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UBSAIV 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 


Gl  FT    OF 


^  Class  '■'' 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION 

OF  MICHIGAN  STATE 

AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


®F  THE 


UN 


VERSITY 

OF 
pALIFORNi^ 


'nil-;      I'RKSIDKXTS      OF      MICIIIC.AX     STATI'.     A( ;  K  1(   T  I-'IT  R  Al. 

j.  R.  Williiinis,  1X57-1859  T.  C.  Al)l)(>t,   iS()2~kSS4 

Edwin  Willets,  18(85-1889  Oscar  Cliili',  1880-1803 

L.  G.  (iorton,  1893-1895  J.  L.  Snydtr,  1806- 


Semi-Centennial   Celebration 

of 

Michigan  State  Agricultural  College 


MAY  TWENTY-SIXTH,  TWENTY-NINTH,  THIRTIETH 
AND  THIRTY-FIRST 

NINETEEN  HUNDRED  SEVEN 


Edited  by  Thomas  C.  Blaisdell,  Ph.D. 
Published  by  the  College 


.K? 


^ 


Published  July  1908 


Composed  and  Printed  By 

The  University  of  Chicago  Press 

Chicago,  Illinois,  U.  S.  A 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

General  Program 

Baccalaureate  Sermon,  by  President  Matthew  Henry 
BUCKHAM  


PAGE 

I 


13 


THE  COLLEGE  AND  THE  STATE 
Address  for'The  State,  by  Governor  Warner      .         .  25 

Address  for  the  Grange,  by  George  B.  Horton,  Master  29 

Address  for  the  Faraiers'   Clubs  of  Michigan,   by 

President  Lucius  Whitney  Watkins  ...  36 

Address  for  the  Agricultural  Society  of  Michigan, 

BY  Secretary  I.  H.  Butterfield  ....  40 

Address  for  the  Michigan  Engineering  Society,  by 

Mr.  Frank  Hodgman  ......  47 

Address  for  the  Normal  Schools,  by  President  Jones  51 
Address  for  the  Denominational  Colleges,  by  Presi- 
dent Bruske 

Address  for  the  Public  Schools,  by  State  Superin- 
tendent Wright         ...... 


55 
57 


THE  BUILDERS  OF  THE  COLLEGE 

The  College  and  the  Students,   185  7-1 860,  by  Mr. 

C.  J.  Monroe       .......  61 

Members  of  the  Early  Faculty,  by  Professor  Cook  .  71 
How  They  Taught  in  the  Early  Days,  by  Doctor 

Bessey 82 

The  College  in  1870,  by  Doctor  Beal  ....  88 
Early  Members  of  the  Governing  Board,  by  Mr.  C. 

W.  Garfield 02 

Mendelssohn's  Oratorio  Elijah on 


180947 


VI  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

OPEN  SESSION  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ASSOCIATION  OF  AGRICUL- 
TURAL COLLEGES  AND  EXPERIMENT  STATIONS 

PAGE 

Development  of  Agricultural  Education,  by  Commis- 
sioner Brown 103 

Development  of  Engineering  Education  in  the  Land- 
Grant  Colleges,  by  President  Stone  .         .        114 

The  Authority  of  Science,  by  Director  Jordan  .         .        128 

ALUMNI  DAY  EXERCISES 

The  Alumni  Business  Meetings 149 

The  Alumni  Luncheon 152 

The  Alumni  Literary  Exercises 

President's  Address:  "The  Alumnus  as  a  Citizen," 

BY  Mr.  R.  a.  Clark,  1876 157 

Address:  "Insulated  Wealth,"  by  Mr.  Ray  Stan- 
NARD  Baker,  1889         ......        164 

Poem:  "To  Old  M.  A.  C,"  by  Mrs.  Pearl  Kedzie 

Plant,  1898 173 

"Sketches  by  the  Historian,"  by  Mr,  C.  J.  Mon- 
roe, 1861 175 

"Necrology,"  by  Professor  H.  W.  Mumford,  1891  184 

Memorial  Day  Address,  by  Congressman  Washington 

Gardner .        189 

Campus  Illumination,  Reception,  and  Promenade  Con- 
cert   .........        199 

JUBILEE  EXERCISES 

Address   for   the   Department   of   Agriculture,    by 

Secretary  Wilson       ......  203 

Address  for  Michigan  and  its  University,  by  Presi- 
dent Angell       .......  208 

Address  for  the  East,  by  President  Stimson        .         .  211 

Address  for  the  South,  by  President  White        .         .  220 

Address  for  the  West,  by  President  Wheeler     .         .  224 

Address  for  the  Middle  West,  by  President  Janes      .  227 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  vii 


FAGZ 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES 

Address,  by  President  Roosevelt         ....  239 
Conferring   of   Bachelors'   Diplomas,    by   President 

Roosevelt 256 

Conferring  of  Honorary  Degrees,  by  President  Sny- 
der    .........  257 

Congratulatory  Addresses  Presented  by  Delegates  .  263 

Congratulatory  Messages  Received  by  the  Committee  307 

List  of  Delegates  and  Distinguished  Guests       .         .  363 


GENERAL  PROGRAM 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION 


BACCALAUREATE  SERMON 

SUNDAY  AFTERNOON 

MAY  TWENTY-SIXTH  AT  HALF-PAST  THREE  O'CLOCK 

COLLEGE   ARMORY 

BY 

MATTHEW  HENRY  BUCKHAM,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

PRESroENT  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY   OF  VERMONT 


MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 
THE  COLLEGE  AND  THE  STATE 

WEDNESDAY  MORNING 

MAY  TWENTY-NINTH  AT  TEN   o'CLOCK 
ASSEMBLY  TENT 

PROGRAM 

Address  for  the  State 

By  His  Excellency  Fred  Maltby  Warner 

Governor  of  Michigan 

Address  for  the  Grange 
By  Hon.  George  B.  Horton 

Master 

Light  Cavalry  Overture  {Suppe) 

By  the  College  Band 

Address  for  the  Farmers'  Clubs 

By  Hon.  Lucius  Whitney  Watkins 

President 

Address  for  the  Agricultural  Society 
By  Hon.  Ira  Howard  Buttereield 

Secretary 

Address  for  the  Engineering  Society 

By  Mr.  Frank  Hodgman 

President 

AuF  Wiedersehen  (Bailey) 

Address  for  the  Normal  Schools 

By  President  Lewis  Henry  Jones 

Ypsilanti  Normal  College 

Address  for  the  Denominational  Colleges 

By  Doctor  August  F.  Bruske 

President  of  Alma  College 

Address  for  the  State  Board  of  Education 

By  Hon.  Luther  L.  Wright 

Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  of  Michigan 

March  Comique  {Hall) 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION 


THE  BUILDERS  OF  THE  COLLEGE 

WEDNESDAY  AFTERNOON 

MAY  TWENTY-NINTH  AT  TWO  O'CLOCK 
COLLEGE  ARMORY 

PROGRAM 

Chicago  Tribune  March  (Chambers) 
By  THE  College  Band 

Address — "The  College  and  the  Students,  1857-1860" 

By  Hon.  Charles  Jay  Monroe 

President  of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture 

Address — "Members  of  the  Early  Faculty" 

By  Doctor  Albert  John  Cook 
Professor  of  Biology  in  Pomona  College,  Claremont,  Cal. 

Address — "How  They  Taught  in  the  Early  Days" 

By  Doctor  Charles  Edwin  Bessey 
Dean  of  Industrial  College  and  Professor  of  Botany,  University  of  Nebraska 

Cornet  Solo — Schubert's  "Serenade" 
By  Mr.  A.  J.  Clark 

Address — "The  College  in  1870" 

By  Doctor  William  James  Beal 
Professor  of  Botany  in  This  College  Since  1870 

Address — "Early  Members  of  the  Board" 

By  Hon.  Charles  W.  Garfield 
Member  of  Board  from  1877  to  iSgg 


MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


MENDELSSOHN'S  ORATORIO 
ELIJAH 

WEDNESDAY  EVENING 

MAY  TWENTY-NINTH  AT  EIGHT  o'CLOCK 
ASSEMBLY  TENT 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION 


OPEN  SESSION  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ASSOCIATION 

OF   AGRICULTURAL   COLLEGES   AND 

EXPERIMENT  STATIONS 

PROFESSOR  LIBERTY  HYDE  BAILEY 
Director  of  the  College  of  Agricultxjre  of  Cornell  University 

Presiding 

THURSDAY  MORNING 

MAY  thirtieth  AT  NINE  O'CLOCK 
ASSEMBLY  TENT 

PROGRAM 

Overture — "If  I  Were  King"  (Adam) 

By  the  Bach  Orchestra 

Address — "Development   of   Agricultural   Education" 

By  Doctor  Elmer  Ellsworth  Brown 
United  States  Commissioner  of  Education 

Address — "Development    of    Engineering    Education" 

By  Doctor  Winthrop  Ellsworth  Stone 
President  of  Purdue  University 

La  Feria  from  "Los  Toros"  (Lacome) 

Address — "The  Authority  of  Science" 

By  Director  Whitman  H.  Jordan 

Of  the  Geneva  (N.  Y.)  Experiment  Station 

Grand  March  (Christopher  Bach) 


MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


ALUMNI  DAY  EXERCISES 
THURSDAY 

MAY  THIRTIETH 

PROGRAM 

II  A.  M. 

Alumni  Business  Meeting 
College  Chapel 

12  M. 

Alumni  Luncheon 
Assembly  Tent 

2  p.  M. 

Alumni  Literary  Exercises 

Assembly  Tent 

(For  detailed  program  see  next  page.) 
5-8  P.  M. 

Class  Reunions 
Various  places 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION 


ALUMNI  LITERARY  EXERCISES 

THURSDAY  AFTERNOON 

MAY  THIRTIETH   AT  TWO   O'CLOCK 
ASSEMBLY  TENT 

PROGRAM 
Overture — "Light  Cavalry"  (SuppS) 

President's  Address 
By  Mr.  Russell  Allen  Cl.\rk,  1876 

Oration 
By  Mr.  Ray  Stannard  Baker,  1889 

"Cavatina"  (Ra^) 

Poem 
By  Mrs.  Pearl  EIedzie  Plant,  1898 

History 

By  Mr.  Charles  Jay  Monroe,  1861 

Fantasia  from  "II  Trovatore"  (Verdi) 

Necrology 
By  Herbert  Windsor  Mumford,  1891 


lO  MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

NATIONAL  MEMORIAL  DAY 

THURSDAY  AFTERNOON 

MAY    THIRTIETH   AT  FOUR  O'CLOCK 
ASSEMBLY   TENT 

PROGRAM 
Memorial  Day  Parade 
By  the  College  Battalion 
On  Athletic  Field  at  four  o'clock 

Musical  Program 
By  the  College  Band 

Memorial  Day  Exercises 
Assembly  Tent  at  the  close  of  the  Battalion  Parade 

Invocation 
By  Doctor  Frank  Gibson  Ward 

Memorial  Day  Address 

By  Hon.  Washington  Gardner 

Member  of  Congress  of  the  Third  Michigan  District 

THURSDAY  EVENING 

MAY  thirtieth 

Illumination  of  Campus 

At  eight  o'clock 

Parade  by  the  Students  with  College  Songs 

The  "Oak  Chain"  Fancy  March 
By  the  Young  Women  of  the  College  in  Front  of  the  Women's 

Building 

Bonfires  in  Front  of  Wells  Hall 

Reception  to  Delegates,  Alumni,  and  Friends  of  the 

College 

College  Armory  at  nine  o'clock 

Orchestra  Concert 
Assembly  Tent  adjoining  College  Armory  from  g  to  ii  P.  M. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  II 

JUBILEE  EXERCISES 

FRIDAY  MORNING 

MAY  THIRTY-FIRST   AT   NINE   o'CLOCK 
ASSEMBLY   TENT 

PROGRAM 
Procession  op  Delegates,  Alumni,  Faculty,  and  Students 

Invocation 

Rev.  Horace  Cady  Wilson 

Lansing,  Mich. 

Reception  of  Congratulatory  Addresses 

From  Other  Institutions  and  Learned  Societies 

March — "Badger  State"  {ChristopJier  Bach) 

Polonaise  from  "Mignon"  {Thomas) 

Address  for  the  Department  of  Agriculture 

By  Hon.  J.'U£es  Wilson 
Secretary 

Address  for  Michigan  and  Its  University 

By  President  James  Burmll  Angell 
University  of  Michigan 

"The  Nightingale  and  Thrush"  (Bosquetto) 
Address  for  the  East 

By  President  Rupus  Whittaker  Stimson 
Connecticut  Agricultural  College 

Address  for  the  South 

By  President  Henry  Clay  White 
College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts,  University  of  Georgia 

Solo  for  Cornet  with  Orchestra 

Address  for  the  West 

By  President  Benjamin  Ide  Wheeler 
University  of  California 

Address  for  the  Middle  West 

By  President  Edmund  James  Janes 
University  of  Illinois 

Wedding  March  (Mendelssohn) 


12     MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES 

FRIDAY  AFTERNOON 

MAY  THIRTY-FIRST   AT  TWO   O'CLOCK 
COLLEGE   CAMPUS 

PROGRAM 

March  International  {Lincoln) 

Overture  from  "Martha"  {Flotow) 

Singing  of  Mendon 

By  the  Audience 

Invocation 

By  Rev.  Elisha  Moore  Lake 

Address 

By  the  President  of  the  United  States,  Theodore  Roosevelt 

Singing  of  America 

By  the  Audience 

Conferring  of  Baccalaureate  Degrees 

Conferring  of  Honorary  Degrees 
By  President  Jonathan  LeMoyne  Snyder 

Overture  from  "Cyrano"  {Christopher  Bach) 


SOCIETY  BANQUETS  AND  REUNIONS 

FRIDAY  EVENING 

MAY   thirty-first  AT  SEVEN  O'CLOCK 


BACCALAUREATE  SERMON 


BACCALAUREATE  SERMON 


PRESIDENT  MATTHEW  HENRY  BUCKHAM 
University  of  Vermont 


Thus  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  I  took  thee  from  the  sheepcote,  from 
following  the  sheep,  to  be  ruler  over  my  people.— II  Sam.  7:8. 

This  is  so  frequent  an  occurrence  in  human  experience,  the 
calling  of  men  from  the  sheepcote  to  national  leadership,  that 
it  has  become  a  commonplace  of  moralists.  But  it  never  ceases 
to  be  an  impressive  fact,  and  may  well  be  studied  for  the  instruc- 
tion with  which  it  is  charged.  The  callings  of  divine  Providence 
rest  on  good  reasons  which  we  may  well  seek  to  discover.  Why 
are  shepherds  of  sheep  so  often  called  to  be  kings  of  men  ? 

I.  Let  us  try  to  get  the  essential  out  of  that  which  is  inciden- 
tal in  the  fact  under  review.  The  pastoral  calling  stands  for 
much  in  itself.  It  is  human  life  as  first  organized— social 
life  in  its  freshness  and  simpHcity.  Idealized  in  after  ages  it 
inspires  the  poetry  of  the  idyl  and  the  pastoral.  When  life 
becomes  luxurious  and  corrupt  a  Tacitus  or  a  Rousseau  recalls 
the  pastoral  hfe  to  men's  imagination,  and  it  becomes  the  fashion 
to  mimic  its  simpHcity  and  innocence.  But  that  which  is  good 
in  the  pastoral  life  takes  on  a  larger  good  in  the  more  developed 
agricultural  life  with  its  fixed  homes,  its  seed  time  and  harvests, 
its  granaries  and  fruits.  God  calls  men  to  leadership  also 
from  the  furrow,  from  the  harvest  field,  from  the  garden  and 
the  vineyard.  And  we  cannot  stop  here.  From  every  humble 
caUing  in  hfe  men  have  been  advanced  to  high  station— from 
fishing  and  tent-making,  from  type-setting  and  rail-splitting, 
from  the  tanner's  vat  and  the  shoemaker's  bench,  from  the 
sailing  craft  and  the  ferry  boat,  from  opening  and  shutting  of  a 
steam  valve,  from  a  hundred  arts  and  industries.     And  was 


15 


l6    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

not  the  world's  supreme  leader  taken  from  the  bench  of  the 
carpenter  ? 

But  we  should  make  a  great,  though  common,  mistake  if  we 
should  conclude  from  these  facts  that  the  larger  life  is  a  soil  in 
which  the  masterful  virtues  cannot  grow.  This  life  also  has 
furnished  to  mankind  its  share  of  leaders.  The  noble  famihes 
of  the  nations  have  had  their  representatives  in  the  fields  where 
great  deeds  have  been  wrought.  "Noblesse  oblige"  has  been 
not  only  a  cry  but  a  power.  We  look  especially  to  this  life  for 
certain  quaUties  essential  to  the  highest  manhood,  for  what  we 
call  the  chivalrous  qualities,  courtesy,  refinement,  a  delicate 
sense  of  the  respect  due  to  others,  toleration,  frankness,  charity. 
But  these  are  councils  of  perfection  not  fundamental  principles, 
flowers  rather  than  roots  of  character.  A  man  can  have  them 
and  not  be  a  leader.  The  prime,  essential,  indispensable 
virtues  and  qualities  which  make  strong  and  prevailing  man- 
hood and  womanhood  are  of  another  order.  What  are  they  ? 
Why  do  we  look  for  them;  why  does  God  himself  seem  to  find 
them  more  frequently  in  some  callings  than  in  others;  and 
how  can  we  retain  them  as  life  becomes  more  complex  and 
artificial  ? 

2.  We  shall  very  soon  in  this  quest,  I  think,  reach  the  con- 
clusion that  what  we  call  character  depends  largely  on  the 
existence  and  paramountcy  of  a  few  simple  primordial  virtues 
which  are  within  the  reach  of  all,  not  dependent  on  special  gifts 
or  opportunities.    They  are : 

a)  The  economic  virtues,  industry,  thrift,  sobriety,  including 
also  an  instinctive  and  persistent  horror  of  waste,  waste  of 
substance,  of  time,  of  opportunity,  of  life,  of  self.  A  teacher, 
an  employer  of  men,  can  usually  pick  out  those  who  are  fore- 
ordained to  promotion  and  success.  They  are  those  who  are 
toiling  upward  while  their  companions  loiter  and  dawdle  and 
sleep.  One  great  advantage  which  the  shepherd  lad  and  the 
boy  from  the  artisan's  family  have  is  that  these  are  virtues  of 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  1 7 

necessity  to  them,  and  having  been  once  acquired  are  available 
in  other  and  higher  affairs. 

b)  Next  are  the  domestic  virtues— love  of  kin,  fideUty  to 
home  and  friends  and  neighbors,  the  respect  of  the  sexes  for  each 
other,  and  the  sanctity  of  marriage.  Not  only  are  these  virtues 
in  themselves,  but  they  safeguard  all  other  virtues.  One  who 
keeps  himself  in  close  touch  with  father  and  mother  and  sister, 
who  feels  that  everywhere  kind  eyes  and  kind  hearts  are  follow- 
ing him,  and  that  to  bring  gladness  to  those  dear  eyes  and 
hearts  would  be  the  greatest  joy  to  him,  will  never  go  far  astray 
and  may  even  for  their  sake  do  things  beyond  himself. 

c)  Again,  the  patriotic  virtues.  We  have  seen  in  this  country 
—and  have  read  the  same  story  over  and  over  again  in  the  history 
of  other  countries— how  strong  a  force  in  the  development  of 
character  is  the  principle  of  patriotism— how  it  sobers,  steadies, 
and  enlarges  manhood,  and  womanhood  too — how,  when  the 
emergency  comes  which  rouses  patriotic  feeUng,  it  suddenly, 
in  a  single  day,  changes  a  boy  into  a  man ;  a  girl  into  a  woman — 
how  it  pushes  aside  with  a  Dante-hke  contempt  those  who  can 
only  carp  and  jeer  while  others  do  the  fighting  and  the  work, 
and  steps  out  into  the  arena  of  strife  ready  to  dare  all  and  do 
all  for  some  just  and  holy  cause. 

d)  And,  crowning  all,  the  religious  virtues,  those  which  have 
their  source  in  reUgion,  and  especially  in  what  the  Scriptures 
call  the  fear  of  God,  which  does  not  mean  dread  of  God,  terror 
in  the  thought  of  God— and  yet  is  not  the  same  as  the  love  of 
God  which  is  a  high  attainment,  the  outcome  of  experience  and 
reflection  and  prayer— but  that  primary  right  feeling  toward 
God  which  is  made  up  of  awe  and  reverence  and  devoutness — 
the  feeUng  toward  God  which  men  have  who  get  their  religion 
from  nature  and  much  personal  thought  and  the  spirit  of  God, 
rather  than  from  books  and  human  teachings.  Other  environ- 
ments are  favorable  to  other  types  of  religion— beautiful  types 
some  of  them,  the  ascetic,  the  contemplative,  the  mystic— but 


l8    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

the  religion  which  tends  to  make  men  staunch,  robust  in  practical 
affairs,  good  at  need,  good  in  all  winds  and  weather,  is  the 
kind  which  comes  through  the  experiences  of  shepherds  and 
tent-makers  and  fishermen. 

3.  But  the  youths  that  have  had  this  training  in  the  pastoral 
and  home-bred  virtues,  can  they  keep  it  in  the  larger  life  which 
opens  before  them  ?  No  doubt  the  life  of  freedom  and  oppor- 
tunity endangers  these  virtues.  They  were  never  more  sympa- 
thetically portrayed  than  in  the  "Cotter's  Saturday  Night," 
and  yet  Burns  went  out  from  such  a  home  to  encounter  the 
temptations  of  luxurious  society  and  to  fall  before  them.  The 
son  of  the  man  whom  God  called  from  the  sheepcote  to  leader- 
ship lost  the  fundamental  virtues  of  which  we  have  spoken, 
lost  his  strenuous  manhood  and  became  a  voluptuary,  lost 
domestic  virtue,  lost  national  pride  and  loyalty  in  a  lax  cosmo- 
politanism, lost  the  fear  of  God,  and  in  consequence  descended 
from  the  high  place  he  ought  to  have  kept  to  be  a  roue,  a  cynic, 
a  trifler,  a  virtuoso  in  "ivory  and  apes  and  peacocks."  Men 
doubtless  moraHzed  on  it  as  men  do  now,  and  said,  "  See  what 
has  befallen  the  son  of  the  man  whom  God  called  from  the  sheep- 
cote  to  be  leader  of  Israel,  and  know  that  wealth  and  prosperity 
and  power  are  not  good  for  man ;  they  ensnare  and  corrupt  him, 
it  were  better  for  him  to  have  followed  the  sheep." 

But  is  this  so  ?  Is  such  moralizing  just  ?  Were  it  not  strange 
that  God  has  made  this  life  full  of  things  of  beauty  and  made  us 
eager  to  get  them — has  made  us  capable  of  manifold  lovely  arts 
and  high  adornments  and  enrichments  of  life,  and  made  these 
things  the  rewards  of  virtue,  of  earnest  striving  and  patient  well- 
doing, and  then  has  put  his  curse  on  them  and  made  them  agen- 
cies for  our  corruption  and  undoing  ?  Shall  we  bid  the  shepherd 
lad  remain  in  his  sheepcote,  the  blacksmith  stick  to  his  forge,  the 
poet  live  on  in  his  cottage,  lest  in  the  great  world  they  come  to  grief  ? 

No — but  we  will  say,  "Be  the  king  if  you  can,  but  be  the 
shepherd  king.    Be  the  United  States  senator  if  you  can,  but  keep 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  19 

the  virtues  of  the  blacksmith's  home  in  the  senatorial  life. 
When  you  feel  that  the  society  around  you  is  growing  artificial 
and  intercourse  is  insincere  and  everything  sophisticated  and  un- 
real, go  back  and  get  in  touch  again  with  the  simpler  and  more 
genuine  life  out  of  which  you  came.  As  the  queen  used  to  go 
to  Balmoral  and  sit  by  the  ingle  of  her  humble  cottagers  and 
learn  useful  lessons  of  life;  as  Mr.  Lincoln  loved  to  have  a 
chat  with  one  of  the  plain  men  from  whom  he  came;  as  every 
wise  statesman  consults  with  his  constituents  back  in  the  country 
homes;  as  the  di\ine,  learned  in  rabbinical  and  patristic  lore, 
gets  some  of  his  best  divinity  and  his  sermons  by  talking  with 
his  sexton  or  his  gardener — so  it  is  good,  it  is  wholesome  to  the 
mind  and  sanitary  to  the  soul  for  everyone  to  keep  connection  with 
that  life,  whatever  it  may  be,  which  is  nearest  to  nature  and  reality. 
Again,  we  will  bid  our  young  aspirants  cherish  the  spirit  of 
youth  and  cUng  to  the  best  things  gained  in  youth.  Words- 
worth wished  that  his  days  should  be  joined  each  to  each  in 
natural  piety.  It  were  good  for  us  all  that  the  best  of  each 
period  of  life  should  pass  on  to  the  next.  It  were  good  to  keep 
as  long  as  possible  the  ideality  of  youth.  There  is,  for  instance, 
the  college  idealism.  One  who  has  had  the  great  privilege  of 
being  a  member  of  a  college  has  a  tie  which  binds  him  to  the 
conception  of  life  for  which  a  college  stands.  And  then  there  are 
one's  church  relations.  Most  right-minded  young  persons  in 
these  times  enter  into  church  relations.  They  do  this  in  those 
youthful  years  when  conscience  is  tender  and  active,  when  the 
heart  readily  responds  to  the  appeals  of  divine  love,  and  the 
will  rejoices  in  acts  of  holy  obedience.  It  is  good  to  hold  fast  to 
this  early  faith.  It  is  not  a  sign  of  superiority  to  lose  it,  for  it 
is  usually  lost  by  neglect.  In  these  stirring  times  when  the 
trumpet  is  ever  ringing  out  the  challenge,  "  Who  is  on  the  Lord's 
side  ?"  it  is  good  to  feel  that  this  question  is  decided,  that  one 
is  committed,  and  pledged,  and  can  be  counted  on  in  the  good 
enterprises  in  which  the  Christian  church  is  leader. 


20  MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

And  this  brings  us  to  say  finally,  Let  us  cultivate  a  religion 
which  puts  due  emphasis  on  the  ethical  and  practical  side  of 
human  life.  I  do  not  plead  for  an  undue  emphasis  on  this  side 
— to  the  disparagement  of  the  imagination,  the  emotional,  the 
mystic  elements  in  the  religious  life — those  which  make  men 
devout  and  unworldly  and  saintly.  But,  strange  as  it  may 
sound,  these  are  the  easier  attainments  in  rehgion.  It  was  easier 
for  Solomon  to  make  that  sublime  prayer  at  the  dedication  of 
the  temple  than  to  live  a  blameless  life.  It  is  easier  for  any  of 
us  to  be  pious  than  to  be  honest.  But  hard  as  it  is  to  be  honest, 
to  be  true  to  that  in  us  and  above  which  is  deepest  and  highest 
and  best,  it  is  easier  with  religion  than  without  it.  To  bring 
heavenly  natives  down  to  help  us  in  the  discharge  of  earthly 
duties  is  one  of  the  holiest  offices  of  religion.  Therefore  let 
the  man  whose  integrity  is  in  danger  of  being  overborne  by 
conventionalities  seek  aid  in  a  rehgion  which  is  strongly  reahstic, 
which  never  gets  away  from  the  fear  of  God,  which  can  sing 
and  soar  with  St.  Paul  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  and  the 
thirteenth  chapter  of  Corinthians  but  never  lets  go  of  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount  and  the  Epistle  of  James,  which  so  requires  hard 
work  during  six  days,  that  Sunday  will  be  welcomed  as  a  day 
of  real  rest,  which  sympathizes  with  and  blesses  men  who  use 
tools  and  ply  manual  arts,  which  mellows  and  sanctifies  the 
cares  and  troubles,  joys  and  sorrows  of  family  and  kindred, 
friends  and  neighbors,  which  calls  no  human  art  or  relation 
common  which  it  can  fill  with  its  blessing  and  so  make  holy. 
Thus  in  great  cities,  amid  civilization  however  splendid,  in 
society  however  luxurious,  ministered  to  by  all  the  arts,  beset 
by  all  the  corruptions  of  modern  hfe,  young  men  and  maidens 
may  keep  themselves  as  simple,  and  pure,  and  true  hearted, 
and  strong  as  in  the  days  of  antique  virtues,  and  may  add  thereto 
the  new  powers  and  facilities  for  living  which  the  new  civihzation, 
essentially  a  Christian  civilization,  has  put  into  their  hands  for 
the  adornment  and  enrichment  of  their  lives. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  21 

Address  to  the  Class 
Members  of  the  Graduating  Class: 

I  suppose  it  would  be  regarded  as  a  bit  of  baccalaureate 
flattery  to  assume  that  college  graduates  are  foreordained  to  be 
leaders  of  men.  As  individuals,  of  course,  they  are  not  all  so 
destined — as  a  class  they  are.  More  and  more  in  our  time  and 
country  they  are  coming  to  be,  and  are  expected  to  be,  leaders  in 
the  communities  in  which  they  live — some  leaders  of  few,  some 
of  many.  When  a  man  emerges  into  pubUc  prominence  and 
his  biography  is  given,  we  expect  to  be  told  at  what  college  he 
was  graduated.  This  implies  the  acknowledged  potency  of  a 
liberal  education  in  Hfe.  But  it  implies  much  more  than  that. 
Graduation  in  a  college  of  high  grade  selects  men  and  women 
by  their  moral  more  than  by  their  intellectual  quaUties.  Many 
are  called  but  few  are  chosen.  Many  start  but  few  arrive.  A 
hundred  enter  a  class  and  fifty  are  graduated.  Not  that  all 
who  fall  out  by  the  way  fail  because  they  are  unworthy  to  reach 
the  end.  That  we  could  not  say  remembering  those  who  have 
been  with  you  for  a  time  and  whom  you  miss  today.  But  in 
general  in  our  American  communities  the  struggle  for  survival 
to  the  end  of  a  college  course,  the  struggle  with  poverty  and 
hardship  and  the  chances  of  Ufe,  is  a  moral  struggle,  and  success 
means  the  survival  of  the  quahties  that  make  up  strong,  masterful 
character.  And  the  same  law  holds  all  through  hfe.  Success 
in  any  high  sense  is  moral  superiority — the  ascendency  of  virtue. 
And  the  virtue  which  here  prevails  is  the  aggregate  of  the  simple 
and  elementary  virtues  which  all  men  may  have  if  they  will. 
What  I  have  been  trying  to  do  for  you  today  is  to  glorify  in 
your  minds  these  simple  virtues,  to  help  you  to  see  that  they 
make  a  plain,  humble  Hfe  bright  and  strong  and  even  noble, 
and  that  no  other  quaUties  however  briUiant  can  in  any  Ufe 
supply  the  lack  of  them.  You  will  be  quite  Ukely  to  meet  men 
who  are  not  coUege  men  and  who  wiU  be  your  superiors — men 
who  wiU  do  more  for  your  art  or  profession,  more  for  invention. 


22    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

or  statesmanship,  or  philanthropy,  or  religion.  It  may  be 
because  they  will  have  more  genius  than  you — but  more  prob- 
ably because  they  will  have  more  industry,  more  resoluteness,  a 
higher  purpose. 

Revolving  very  often  in  my  mind  during  my  many  years  of 
college  experience  the  question  of  the  relative  importance  of 
the  moral  and  the  intellectual  factors  in  the  product  which  we 
call  success  in  life — success  of  a  high  order  I  mean — I  have 
come  to  the  deliberate  conclusion  that  they  stand  in  the  ratio 
of  at  least  three  to  one,  that  saying  nothing  about  heaven  above 
and  the  life  hereafter,  the  worth  of  a  man  or  a  woman  here  and 
now  is  one  part  intellect  and  three  parts  affection,  conscience, 
and  will.  Has  one  a  brilliant  mind  ?  With  adequate  moral 
force  behind  it  and  within  it,  it  becomes  a  mighty  power ;  not  so 
consorted  and  energized  it  avails  little.  Are  you  conscious  of 
having  only  moderate  intellectual  gifts?  You  can  triple  their 
momentum  by  aid  from  the  moral  side  of  your  nature  if  that  is 
true  and  strong.  But  some  of  you  may  say,  "I  do  not  aspire 
or  care  to  be  a  leader  of  men.  I  am  content  to  slip  into  an  easy 
place  and  go  through  life  without  ambition  or  struggle  or 
prominence."  It  is  too  late  for  you  to  choose  that  position. 
It  is  shut  against  you.  In  accepting  the  great  trust  of  a  liberal 
education,  in  consenting  to  receive  from  society  this  loan  of 
leisure  and  seclusion,  and  the  costly  appliances  of  study,  you 
have  undertaken  a  great  responsibility  which  you  cannot  now 
throw  ofiF.  Noblesse  oblige.  You  are  hereby  called  of  God  to 
service,  to  influence,  to  the  labor  and  dignity  of  leadership. 
Your  college  expects  this  of  you.  It  will  be  disappointed  if  you 
do  not,  in  some  sphere,  do  some  effective,  helpful,  honorable 
work.  Your  Alma  Mater  will  rejoice  with  the  great  joy  at 
once  of  self-congratulation  and  of  sympathy  when  she  hears 
of  such  good  work  done  by  you.  Go  with  her  blessing  and 
prayers  and  come  again  to  receive  her  felicitations  and  to  join 
with  her  in  thanksgivings. 


THE  COLLEGE  AND  THE  STATE 
WEDNESDAY  MORNING 


ADDRESS  FOR  THE  STATE 


GOVERNOR  FRED  MALTBY  WARNER 


You  will  pardon  me,  I  am  sure,  if  at  the  outset  I  ask  your 
indulgence  for  a  moment  while  I  bid  those  of  you  who  come 
from  without  our  borders  a  most  cordial  welcome  to  the  Penin- 
sular State  and  this  great  institution,  and  those  of  you  who 
claim  Michigan  as  your  home  a  no  less  cordial  welcome  to  a 
college  whose  name  and  fame  is  known  throughout  the  civilized 
world. 

The  exercises  of  this  day  and  week  mark  an  epoch  in  the 
history  of  this  important  institution  of  learning  and  of  the 
state  which  made  it  possible.  It  is  our  fondest  hope  that  the 
close  of  another  half-century  may  witness  an  institution  and 
a  state  that  have  kept  pace  with  advancing  thought,  methods, 
and  ideals,  and  showered  as  rich  blessings  upon  humanity 
during  those  fifty  years  as  have  marked  the  marvelous  progress 
of  each  during  the  five  decades  that  have  just  passed  into  histor}\ 
More  than  this  could  not  be  hoped  for.  Less  than  this  should 
not  for  a  moment  be  anticipated. 

The  welcome  which  I  bid  you  today,  my  friends,  is  not 
simply  an  expression  of  my  own  pleasure  that  you  have  gathered 
here.  I  but  voice  the  sentiments  of  every  loyal  citizen  of  this 
great  state  when  I  bid  you  a  most  sincere  and  cordial  welcome. 
Whether  you  are  returning  to  this  institution,  your  Alma  Mater, 
as  those  who  years  after  their  departure  from  the  home  of  their 
childhood  return  to  seek  renewed  inspiration  within  its  sacred 
precincts  and  to  Uve  over  again  the  days  of  long  ago,  or  whether 
you  come  with  greetings  as  representatives  of  other  institutions 
which  have  a  share  in  the  great  work  of  fitting  young  men  and 
young  women  to  participate  intelligently  in  the  great  forward 

25 


26    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

movement  which  has  for  its  object  the  uphfting  of  humanity 
and  the  betterment  of  the  world,  you  are  equally  welcome  to 
this  place  and  to  the  ceremonies  of  this  week.  I  have  faith  to 
believe  that  the  experiences  of  these  few  days  will  so  enrich  you 
in  all  the  essentials  of  genuine  manhood  and  womanhood  that 
you  will  return  to  your  homes,  whether  they  be  far  or  near, 
better  fitted  to  face  the  duties  and  responsibiUties  of  life  and 
better  equipped  to  reader  valuable  service  to  your  fellow- 
citizens,  to  your  country,  and  to  humanity. 

We  of  Michigan  beHeve  that  the  fathers  of  our  state  builded 
even  better  than  they  knew  when  they  incorporated  in  the 
constitution  of  1650  the  requirement  that "  the  legislature  encour- 
age the  promotion  of  intellectual,  scientific,  and  agricultural 
improvements  and  shall,  as  soon  as  practicable,  provide  for  the 
establishment  of  an  agricultural  school  for  instruction  in  agri- 
culture and  the  natural  sciences  connected  therewith." 

Following  the  adoption  of  this  constitution  by  the  people,  the 
legislature,  in  obedience  to  this  requirement,  laid  the  foundation 
for  this  great  institution  of  learning  by  enacting  a  law  which 
made  provision  for  a  "high  seminary  of  learning  in  which  the 
graduate  of  the  common  school  can  commence,  pursue,  and 
finish  a  course  of  study  terminating  in  thorough  theoretic  and 
practical  instruction  in  those  sciences  and  arts  which  bear  directly 
upon  agriculture  and  kindred  industrial  pursuits." 

This  broad  foundation,  estabUshed  by  our  farseeing  prede- 
cessors, has  enabled  this  College  to  keep  pace  with  advancing 
thought  and  take  advantage  of  opportunities  as  they  presented 
themselves  for  broadening  its  courses  and  thus  increasing  its 
usefulness. 

Having  been  the  first  state  in  the  Union  to  estabUsh  and 
equip  an  educational  institution  for  the  direct  promotion  of 
technical  training  in  agriculture,  Michigan  was  prompt  to  profit 
by  the  enactment  by  Congress  in  1890  of  the  Morrill  law  which, 
through  the  increased  revenue  it  provided,  enabled  it  to  extend 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  27 

the  scope  of  this  institution's  usefulness  by  adding  a  mechanical 
department.  Subsequently,  in  response  to  the  demands  of  the 
people  of  the  state,  the  legislature  made  provision  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  women's  department,  now  one  of  the  most 
valuable  adjuncts  of  the  College. 

You  come  then  today,  my  friends,  to  the  pioneer  agricultural 
college  of  the  United  States,  an  institution  which  has  blazed  the 
way  and  set  the  pace  for  all  similar  enterprises  that  have  since 
been  established  to  aid  in  the  great  work  of  educating  the  masses 
of  our  people,  elevating  the  standard  of  American  citizenship, 
and  developing  our  great  country. 

Rising  amid  the  stumps  which,  in  that  early  day,  covered 
this  beautiful  campus  and  standing  out  from  a  background  of 
virgin  forest  which  stretched  away  to  the  farthermost  limits  of 
this  now  fertile  farm,  the  unpretentious  buildings  which  housed 
the  sixty  students  who  were  enrolled  at  the  opening  of  the  College 
in  May,  1857,  furnished  ample  accommodations  for  all  who 
sought  instruction  here.  Meager  as  was  the  number  of  students 
who  entered  the  College  when  its  doors  were  thrown  open  fifty 
years  ago,  it  doubtless  was  as  great  in  proportion  to  the  popula- 
tion of  the  state  as  is  the  greatly  increased  number  of  young  men 
and  young  women  who  now  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunities 
here  presented  for  securing  a  practical  education  which  will  fit 
them  properly  to  fill  the  positions  in  life  to  which  they  are  called. 

The  growth  of  this  College  has  been  commensurate  with  the 
development  of  the  state.  Its  equipment  has  been  increased  and 
its  courses  of  study  enlarged  and  expanded  to  meet  new  demands 
and  new  conditions.  Successive  legislatures,  recognizing  the  great 
value  to  the  state  of  the  work  done  here,  have  been  judiciously 
generous  in  providing  for  the  financial  needs  of  the  institution. 

How  well  it  has  repaid  the  fostering  care  of  the  state  is  a 
matter  of  history  and  common  knowledge.  Its  hundreds  of 
graduates  have  gone  from  its  portals  to  take  the  lead  in  all  indus- 
tries and  all  movements  for  the  development  of  the  state  and 


28    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

its  resources.  They  have  ever  been  the  leaders  in  the  advances 
that  have  been  made  in  agriculture  and  kindred  sciences;  they 
have  been  at  the  forefront  in  the  onward  march  of  the  mechanic 
arts;  they  have  been  prominent  in  the  professions;  they  have 
been  foremost  in  all  movements  having  for  their  object  the 
improvement  of  society  and  the  betterment  of  humanity. 

These  young  men  and  young  women  have  gone  from  this 
institution  into  all  the  walks  of  life  and  everywhere  have  taken 
advanced  positions  among  their  fellows.  Their  great  services 
to  the  state  have  more  than  repaid  the  people  of  Michigan  the 
investment  they  have  made  here — repaid  them  many  times  over 
in  a  material  way,  while  in  a  greater  and  grander  sense  the  return 
has  been  such  that  cannot  be  measured  by  dollars  and  cents. 
It  has  taken  the  form  of  increased  knowledge,  increased  happi- 
ness, improved  conditions  of  living,  better  environments,  higher 
ideals,  and  nobler  lives.  This  great  reward  is  like  unto  that 
treasure  which  is  laid  up  "where  moths  and  rust  do  not  corrupt 
nor  thieves  break  through  and  steal." 

While  Michigan  has  naturally  and  properly  been  the  greatest 
gainer  in  every  way  by  the  work  of  this  grand  institution  of 
learning,  the  great  good  accomplished  has  spread  far  beyond 
the  borders  of  our  state.  It  has  found  its  way  into  every  state 
and  territory  and  even  into  lands  beyond  the  seas.  Everywhere 
the  graduates  of  this  institution  are  in  demand  to  carry  forward 
the  work  of  development  and  progress.  No  better  or  more 
positive  proof  of  the  standing  and  character  of  this  College  could 
be  adduced  than  is  found  in  the  fact  that  from  all  states  and 
countries  there  comes  a  call  to  it  for  aid  and  its  graduates  have, 
from  year  to  year,  responded  to  this  call  and  demonstrated  their 
ability  to  measure  up  to  all  demands  and  meet  all  requirements. 

And  I  doubt  not  that  this  great  institution  will  go  steadily 
and  grandly  forward,  keeping  step  with  the  onward  march  of 
humanity,  broadening  its  work,  and  increasing  its  usefulness 
throughout  the  years  that  are  to  come. 


ADDRESS  FOR  THE  GRANGE 


GEORGE  B.  HORTON 
Master  of  State  Grange 


Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies,  and  Gentlemen: 

As  we  pass  along  through  life  we  at  times  meet  with  inci- 
dents and  occasions  which  in  after-years  are  marked  as  of  such 
special  importance  that  they  stand  out  conspicuously  from  all 
other  events,  and  often  we  find  ourselves  recognizing  these 
happenings  as  fixed  times  from  which  the  dates  and  the  impor- 
tance of  all  other  happenings  are  reckoned. 

I  beheve  that  this  occasion,  because  of  its  broad  significance, 
will  become  a  prominent  milestone  in  the  hves  of  all  who  par- 
ticipate in  and  attend  the  exercises  incident  to  this,  the  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College.  Fifty  years 
is  but  a  short  space  of  time  when  considered  as  a  part  of  the 
ages,  but  in  this  case  it  comprises  the  whole. 

It  marks  the  time  of  the  beginning,  and  following  along  it 
leads  up  to  the  present.  The  most  profound  thought,  however, 
in  connection  with  this  occasion  is  that  while  the  life  and  work 
of  the  College  up  to  the  present  make  a  history  rich  in  achieve- 
ments along  the  fines  of  agricultural  and  human  progress  and 
development  and  in  this  work  have  measured  the  full  lives  of 
many  gifted  and  devoted  men,  comparatively  speaking  a  com- 
mencement only  has  been  made.  While  we  would  not  shadow 
the  past  record  of  the  College  and  all  its  valuable  and  more 
than  expected  or  before  thought  possible  contributions  to  the 
development  of  our  state  and  its  people,  we  may  nevertheless 
pause  and  marvel  at  the  great  work  before  it,  if  the  rate  of  prog- 
ress and  development  of  the  recent  past  decades  are  to  con- 
tinue.    For  this  occasion  it  is  enough  to  congratulate  our  state 

29 


30    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

that  the  fathers  who  provided  for  this  College,  along  with  others 
in  our  educational  system,  possessed  that  wisdom  and  foresight 
which  led  to  the  laying  of  a  foundation  so  eminently  fitting  to 
a  state  destined  to  be  recognized  as  a  leader  in  agricultural, 
industrial,  and  intellectual  development. 

It  is  well  for  our  people  to  gather  and  to  assist  in  celebrat- 
ing important  anniversaries  of  the  estabHshing  of  prominent 
state  institutions,  but  it  is  expected  that,  without  lacking  a  full 
appreciation  of  the  value  of  all  others,  we  give  distinctiveness 
to  each  separate  event. 

This  College  exists  most  conspicuously  for  the  development 
of  agriculture  and,  as  a  fit  companion,  to  give  such  mechanical 
and  technical  training  as  will  permit  the  head  and  the  hands  to 
work  together,  and  to  assist  each  other  in  being  progressively 
useful.  The  term  agriculture  in  its  broad  sense  may  include 
horticulture,  floriculture,  stock  raising,  and  all  things  incident 
to  soil  production. 

It  is  therefore  fitting  to  consider  at  this  time  the  importance 
of  agriculture  and  how  it  leads  out  and  directly  affects  all 
other  interests  and  the  welfare  of  the  state  itself.  From  such 
line  of  thinking  we  may  also  decide  for  ourselves  the  relative 
importance  of  this  College  to  all  other  educational  institutions 
of  our  state. 

As  the  foundation  of  it  all,  Michigan  is,  in  the  main,  an 
agricultural  state.  Although  there  exist  within  its  domain  rich 
deposits  of  iron,  copper,  salt,  and  coal,  and  there  are  within 
its  thrifty  cities  numerous  manufacturing  and  business  interests 
employing  many  people,  yet  those  engaged  in  interests  akin 
to  agriculture  more  than  equal  all  others  combined.  The 
products  of  its  farms,  gardens,  and  orchards,  including  Uve 
stock,  make  up  an  annual  aggregate  value  of  more  than  that 
of  all  other  interests. 

Michigan  is  also  a  state  of  ideal  American  homes.  These 
are  established  upon  a  soil  so  fertile  and  exist  under  such  climatic 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  31 

conditions  as  to  give  a  range  of  production  surpassed  by  no  state 
or  country.  Originally  covered  with  a  dense  timber  growth 
of  a  wide  range  of  varieties  and  of  proUfic  size,  it  is  therefore 
the  home  of  trees  for  commercial  profit  and  to  add  to  the  adorn- 
ment of  farm  and  landscape.  These  same  conditions  give  us  a 
wide  variety  of  fruits  of  such  quaHty  as  to  add  fame  to  our 
commonwealth  as  a  fruit-producing  state. 

All  the  staple  cereals  are  grown  here  with  profit,  and  all 
of  the  best  varieties  of  pasture  and  fodder  grasses  are  native  and 
abundant.  All  these  contribute  to  make  possible  the  ideal 
home  state  and  to  give  the  occupants  thereof  a  broader  range  of 
opportunity  and  profitable  husbandry  than  can  easily  be  found 
elsewhere.  For  a  broadly  mixed  husbandry,  or  a  shifting  from 
one  specialty  to  another,  Michigan  offers  opportunities  unsur- 
passed. So  bounteously  favored,  it  perhaps  is  but  naturally 
resultant  that  our  state  is  a  land  of  schools  and  educational 
privileges  of  a  high  standard.  Our  general  system  has  been 
commended  by  representatives  of  a  foreign  nation  after  extensive 
travel  to  discover  the  best  system  for  adoption  in  their  home 
country.  Our  rural  schools  are  the  basis  of  it  all,  for  histories 
and  biographies  of  successful  men  and  women,  in  all  of  the  laud- 
able ambitions  of  life,  quite  generally  trace  back  to  the  school- 
house  in  the  country  as  the  place  where  the  foundation  part  of 
their  education  was  attained,  and  in  many  cases  it  furnished  the 
total  of  their  school  education.  In  these  schools,  so  near  to 
the  homes  of  the  people  that  the  education  of  the  head  to  think 
and  to  deduce  conclusions  can  co-operate  with  the  hands  in 
doing  useful  things,  the  essential  foundation  for  usefulness  and 
happiness  is  laid  and  the  correctness  of  our  plan  is  proven. 

Then  after  laying  this  solid  foundation,  our  state  has  pre- 
pared itself  still  further  to  educate  and  to  equip,  even  to  what 
we  may  term  a  finishing  point,  our  sons  and  daughters  for  the 
many  open  avenues  to  industrial  and  professional  usefulness. 

From  the  standpoint  of  preparation  for  educating  the  youth 


32  MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

of  our  state,  perhaps  our  normal  training  schools  should  be 
of  first  consideration,  for  it  is  here  that  those  who  are  to  teach, 
guide,  and  mold,  receive  instruction  to  aid  in  securing  com- 
missions for  this  all-important  service.  It  is  fast  being  proven 
that  no  mistake  has  been  made  in  providing  the  larger  normals 
in  different  sections  of  our  state  and  the  county  system  to  make 
it  possible  for  more  to  prepare  for  the  business  of  teaching. 
The  great  demand  is  for  more  and  better  equipped  teachers  for 
the  common  schools  of  the  state. 

There  comes  a  time  after  children  and  young  people  have, 
as  a  general  mass,  attended  school  together,  when  each  must 
go  his  or  her  way  in  quest  of  still  further  education  in  prepara- 
tion for  some  particular  line  of  occupation  or  profession.  For 
all  this  our  state  has  wisely  provided  various  opportunities 
for  technical  and  professional  education,  through  our  School 
of  Mining,  the  Agricultural  College,  and  our  great  University. 
Besides  these  we  have  denominational  colleges  and  business 
training  schools.  Verily,  Michigan  stands  in  the  front  rank 
for  equipment  for  rearing  an  intelligent  and  progressive  citizen 
population. 

Albeit,  as  the  crowning  glory  of  it  all  we  must  recognize 
and  do  homage  to  our  intelligent  and  progressive  citizenship. 
To  inherit,  as  our  people  have,  a  country  so  rich  in  opportuni- 
ties as  to  draw  from  ambitious  men  their  best  energies,  brings 
about  a  condition  of  citizenship  which  for  high  ideals  and 
grand  achievements  cannot  well  be  surpassed. 

Here  let  us  pause  and  ask  the  relation  of  the  Agricultural 
College  to  all  this  thrift  and  well-doing.  Although  the  institu- 
tion was  born  of  wisdom  and  good  intent,  it  might  have  failed 
to  get  a  good  start  or  it  might  have  maintained  a  mere  existence 
void  of  progress  or  of  recognized  merit. 

The  opposite  from  this,  however,  has  been  and  is  true.  It 
has  done  an  incalculable  work  in  the  development  of  an  intelli- 
gent home  life  upon  the  farm.     From  small  and  humble  begin- 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  33 

nings,  side  by  side  with  the  pioneer,  this  institution  started  in 
the  dense  woods.  Here  through  the  same  processes  as  were 
followed  by  the  people  of  the  state  whom  it  was  organized  to 
assist,  woods  were  cleared  away,  stumps  were  grubbed  out,  lands 
were  drained,  and,  step  by  step,  as  its  usefulness  could  be  proven, 
it  has  grown  until  today  it  exists  a  monument  to  the  wise  councils 
and  untiring  energies  of  those  who  have  managed  its  affairs 
and  a  great  credit  to  the  state.  Aye,  beyond  this,  it  stands  as 
more  than  a  peer  of  all  like  institutions  in  all  the  states  of  our 
whole  country.  In  all  of  its  beauty,  magnitude,  and  broad 
influence,  is  it  all  that  it  should  be  ?  We  answer.  No,  and  it 
cannot  be  so  long  as  there  exists  other  of  our  state  educational 
institutions  receiving  greater  support  from  the  state  than  does 
this  College. 

Not  that  I  would  make  the  University  less,  but  I  would 
make  the  Agricultural  College  more.  I  would  make  it  more 
nearly  representative  in  point  of  magnitude,  scope  of  work,  and 
equipment,  of  the  interests  it  represents  or  stands  for.  It 
would  seem  but  in  Hne  of  justice  and  for  the  real  welfare  of  the 
state  that  our  higher  schools  of  learning  should  be  placed  and 
maintained  upon  a  basis  reasonably  comparable  with  the  impor- 
tance of  the  interests  each  may  most  directly  represent. 

This  comparison  should  go  deep  enough  to  consider  not 
only  their  relative  social,  intellectual,  and  professional  impor- 
tance to  the  state,  but  as  well  the  comparative  numbers  of  people 
engaged  in  the  different  interests  and  the  comparative  importance 
of  each  to  the  state's  welfare.  Then  we  must  consider  the 
technical  training  and  the  experimental  results  necessary  to 
enable  each  class  to  meet  successfully  the  intricate  propositions 
which  are  essential  to  success,  and  which  are  of  such  a  nature 
as  to  make  them  impossible  of  attainment  by  individual  effort. 
The  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number  of  people  can  be  laid 
down  as  a  safe  and  sane  policy  of  state,  but  this  must  not  be 
interpreted  to  mean  that  even  the  welfare  of  the  few  is  not  essen- 


34  MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

tial  to  the  ideal  aggregate  development.  Ideal  development 
takes  into  account  all  of  those  social,  moral,  educational, 
business,  and  professional  attainments,  which,  when  blended 
together  through  the  influence  of  each  upon  the  other,  go  to 
make  up  an  intelligent,  progressive,  and  strong  community, 
state,  or  nation.  The  people  of  a  state,  constituting  the  state 
itself,  should,  in  providing  the  ways  and  means  for  its  greatest 
good,  deal  justly  by  all  people  and  all  interests.  The  time  is 
at  hand  when  the  demands  are  imperative  for  a  broader  and 
more  thorough  industrial  training.  When  we  take  into  account 
the  fact  that  the  industrial  interests,  both  in  point  of  state  welfare 
and  of  people  engaged  therein,  so  far  outclass  all  other  interests 
and  professions  combined,  the  way  would  seem  to  be  dear  to 
provide  for  an  expansion  of  this  College  which  is  so  justly  needed 
and  demanded. 

Incidentally  and  by  a  further  reference  to  our  state  Univer- 
sity, I  will  hazard  the  following  and  for  further  consideration 
refer  it  to  the  people  of  the  state  of  Michigan.  In  the  hght 
of  the  developments  of  recent  years  and  of  the  trend  of  affairs 
and  of  the  demands  educational  and  material,  I  insist  that  the 
time  is  here,  when  we,  as  citizens  who  furnish  the  propelKng 
power  for  it,  may  well  pause  and  ask  how  far  shall  state  pride 
carry  us  beyond  the  requirements  of  our  state  in  supporting  by 
direct  taxation  an  educational  institution  chiefly  for  the  profes- 
sions which  are  for  a  very  small  minority  of  our  people,  so  as  to 
vie  successfully  with  like  institutions  in  other  states,  richly  en- 
dowed by  gifts  from  the  princely  fortunes  of  philanthropic  men  ? 
Time  will  not  permit  further  comment.  The  question  is  asked 
in  all  sincerity  and  a  full  discussion  thereof  by  the  people  of 
our  own  state  will  surely  lead  to  a  wise  and  just  conclusion. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  given  a  place  upon  this  anniversary 
program,  not  because  of  myself,  but  that  I  might  represent  the 
Grange  organization  of  our  state  on  this  occasion.  For  this 
recognition  we  feel  grateful. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  35 

Education  is  the  rock-bedded  foundation  of  the  organization 
I  have  the  honor  to  represent. 

Organization  of  the  farmers  of  Michigan  is  but  an  outgrowth 
of  their  desires  to  improve  and  to  progress  in  such  measure  as 
the  present  time  demands.  Farm  famihes  are  separated  by 
broad  acres,  and  the  various  helpful  agencies,  desirable  but  not 
in  natural  evidence,  must  be  provided  and  brought  near  at 
hand  through  associated  effort.  The  Grange  is  broad  in  con- 
ception, conservative,  and  yet  progressive  in  its  work  and 
influence.  Through  frequent  council  and  exchange  of  thought 
it  leads  the  farmers  of  the  state  to  a  position  of  self-respect  and  a 
better  understanding  of  a  citizen's  privileges  and  duties. 

The  Grange  has  always  been  an  ardent  friend  of  the  College, 
and  in  fact  of  all  of  the  educational  institutions  of  our  state. 
Through  its  efforts  and  support  this  College  has  no  doubt  been 
assisted  to  long  steps  forward  in  its  efforts  to  provide  for  the 
agriculturalists,  the  mechanics,  the  artisans,  the  home-makers, 
and  home-keepers  of  Michigan,  an  opportunity  for  preparation 
to  meet  the  many  scientific  and  intricate  problems  natural  and 
inseparable  from  the  duty  they  have  assumed,  to  feed,  to  clothe, 
and  to  add  to  the  progress  of  the  world.  Because  of  the  timely 
and  essential  work  in  which  the  College  is  engaged,  and  because 
of  its  eminently  successful  administration,  I  feel  safe  in  prom- 
ising a  continued  loyal  support  from  the  entire  mass  of  agricul- 
turahsts  of  Michigan. 

Hoping  for  the  College  many  returns  of  its  semi-centennials, 
and  that  it  may  always  be  alert  in  keeping  up  with  the  demands 
of  the  interests  and  of  the  people  it  was  organized  to  assist,  in 
behalf  of  the  Grange  Organization  I  say.  Good-will  and  God- 
speed ! 


ADDRESS  FOR  THE  FARMERS'  CLUBS  OF  MICHIGAN 


LUCIUS  WHITNEY  WATKINS 
President  of  the  State  Association  of  Farmers'  Clubs 


Mr.  President,  Brother  Alumni,  and  Friends: 

It  seems  particularly  appropriate  that  the  two  great  agricul- 
tural organizations  of  this  state  should  have  a  part  today  in  the 
celebration  of  the  Semi-centennial  of  her  College  of  Agriculture, 
the  sturdy  pioneer  of  its  kind  in  all  America, 

Michigan  has  shown  a  disposition  to  be  very  generous  with 
her  agricultural  interests  and  with  this  great  school;  and  the 
Board  of  Agriculture  and  Dr.  Snyder  are  most  courteous  in  the 
recognition  upon  this  program  of  the  farmers'  important  part 
in  the  industrial  and  educational  progress  of  our  commonwealth. 

In  the  past,  as  now,  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College  has 
added  in  no  small  measure  to  the  grand  sum  of  things  which 
go  to  make  every  resident  within  our  borders  both  glad  and 
proud  that  he  lives  here  in  Michigan,  instead  of  somewhere  else, 
and  that  he  hves  here  now. 

I  can  assure  you  that  to  the  present  speaker  it  is  a  very 
great  pleasure  indeed  to  convey,  generously  and  without  restraint, 
to  this  institution,  so  dear  to  him  as  an  alumnus,  a  message  of 
continued  good-will  and  hearty  congratulation  from  the  great 
democratic  organization  of  farmers'  clubs  which  he  has  the 
honor  to  represent. 

It  is  an  exceedingly  great  pleasure  also,  and  one  which 
affects  me  more  than  I  can  tell,  to  look  into  the  faces  of  the 
dear  old  boys  of  my  college  days,  and  before,  and  to  see  the 
same  faces  again,  changed  only  sUghtly  with  lines  furrowed  by 
work  and  care;  but  the  same  boyish  faces  still,  and  remaining 
M.  A.  C.  boys,  always  loyal,  until  the  end. 

36 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  37 

It  is  interesting  to  know  that  so  many  of  these  men  are 
members  of  farmers'  clubs ;  determined  to  better  the  conditions 
of  home  and  farm  and  the  community  in  which  they  live.  Then 
those  farmers  who  become  active  in  a  political  way  and  are 
elected  to  the  legislature,  organize  a  farmers'  club  there;  probably 
because  of  their  daily  proximity  to  bell-cows  and  lemons,  mules, 
pumpkins,  etc.  (outside  of  the  legislature,  as  they  pass  along 
the  streets  of  Lansing  to  and  from  the  capitol).  And  the 
members  of  other  clubs  than  these,  even  those  of  the  great 
cities,  have  as  abundant  an  agricultural  fare  upon  their  tables 
each  day  as  can  be  found  anywhere.  So  we  see  that  nearly  all 
are  directly  or  indirectly  connected  with  the  farmers'  club. 

It  will  be  seen  that  our  organization  has  been  from  the  first 
very  closely  associated  with  this  institution.  Six  of  the  thirteen 
ex-presidents  of  the  State  Association  of  Farmers'  Clubs  are 
graduates  of  Michigan  Agricultural  CoUege  and  of  the  remaining 
seven,  three  are  the  fathers  of  M.  A.  C.  men.  I  think  the 
professor  of  animal  husbandry  will  tell  you  that  this  is  a  pretty 
good  pedigree. 

And,  friends,  the  strongest  fraternity,  and  not  secret  either, 
in  this  College  is  designed  to  foster  and  promote  an  interest  in 
rural  Hfe  and  the  business  of  agriculture,  and  is  attended  by  the 
agricultural  students  and  faculty.  I  refer  to  the  splendid  local 
chapter  of  the  State  Association  of  Farmers'  Clubs. 

It  is  a  great  college  that  can  turn  out  a  first-class  governor 
from  a  poor  farmer  boy  in  less  than  a  year  of  its  agricultural 
course !  It  is  an  institution  that  will  in  every  case  develop  men 
and  women,  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  term,  out  of  all  those  who 
have  capacity  and  desire  to  learn. 

The  work  of  the  farmers'  clubs  is  most  informal :  a  meeting  of 
kindred  spirits  to  consider  the  questions  which  naturally  arise 
from  local  conditions  in  the  various  communities.  In  them 
the  home  is  discussed,  with  its  most  sacred  associations,  and 
the  flowers  and  lawns  and  trees;   the  school  with  its  crowds  of 


38    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

little  folk;  the  farm,  which  is  the  provider  and  maintenance  of 
luxury  and  comfort  and  the  playground  of  the  family  and  their 
friends.  And  for  the  protection  of  the  welfare  and  happiness 
of  these  homes,  which  are  very  little  different  from  the  purest 
type  of  homes  anywhere,  those  problems  affecting  the  rights 
and  interests  of  the  people  of  the  state  at  large  are  considered 
freely,  for  just  what  they  are  worth  and  what  they  stand  for  in 
the  scale  of  equity  and  justice;  though  it  must  be  admitted 
that  the  farmers  labor  under  the  very  great  disadvantage  of 
not  having  at  their  ready  command  a  prodigious  mass  of  statis- 
tics and  compilations,  from  which  convenient  deductions  may 
be  drawn,  and  are  not  favored  with  the  enhghtenment  of  the 
oratorical  efforts  of  hired  attorneys,  so  learned  that  they  can 
argue  with  equal  powers  of  persuasion  and  equal  display  of 
sincerity  upon  either  side  their  clientage  may  desire. 

And  so  we  hear  from  certain  sources  that  the  country  people 
are  immeasurably  crude  in  their  logic  as  compared  with  others, 
and  that  they  are  disposed  to  advance  starthng  fads  and  most 
dangerous  ideas  of  needed  and  corrective  legislation.  Well, 
possibly !  These  erratic  fads  are,  however,  as  a  rule,  important 
enough  to  call  forth  the  attention  and  ridicule  of  a  majority  of 
the  politicians,  for  two  or  more  years,  then  to  engage  them  in 
what  appears  very  like  a  combination  of  the  games  of  football 
and  leapfrog  for  about  the  same  length  of  time,  when  they  are 
glad  to  indorse  them  as  their  very  own;  too  valuable  and  too 
necessary  to  public  progress  to  be  longer  kept  from  the  dear 
constituents,  over  whose  interests  they  preside. 

My  friends,  the  decision  of  the  common  people  upon  meas- 
ures for  public  good,  arrived  at  under  the  sane  and  natural 
conditions  of  the  home,  and  far  removed  from  the  persuasion 
and  tumult  of  the  caucus  and  convention,  are  much  surer  to  lead 
him  who  champions  them  in  the  public  service  toward  the 
United  States  Senate  than  over  the  much-trodden  pathway 
to  the  penitentiary. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  39 

The  meetings  of  farmers'  clubs  partake  of  the  spirit  of  the 
New  England  town  meetings,  and  their  unselfish  verdict  rings 
true  and  clear  to  the  wishes  of  the  common  people.  Gathered 
together  in  the  farmer's  own  cosy  home,  under  the  auspices  of 
the  good  housewife,  who  provides  a  bounteous  dinner;  with 
friendly  greetings  of  famihes,  one  with  another,  and  in  the  pres- 
ence of  flowers  and  little  children,  with  music  and  laughter, 
the  stern,  cruel  consideration  of  business  affairs  is  tempered 
with  love  and  appreciation  of  truth  and  honor  and  godUness. 

We  join  with  all  persons  and  institutions,  whether  of  the 
higher  or  the  industrial  education,  in  an  effort  to  make  more 
pleasant  and  remunerative  and  more  worth  living  not  the 
lives  of  the  few  but  of  the  great  masses  of  our  people. 

Allow  me  then,  humbly  and  in  the  spirit  of  sincerity  which 
prompts  the  good-will  of  thirty  thousand  brother  farmers,  to 
convey  in  their  behalf  my  hearty  greeting  to  old  M.  A.  C.  today, 
and  to  bid  her  Godspeed  in  her  career  of  endeavor  for  great 
public  good. 


ADDRESS  FOR  THE  AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETY  OF 

MICHIGAN 


IRA  HOWARD  BUTTERFIELD 

Secretary 


It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  represent  the  Michigan  State 
Agricultural  Society  in  extending  congratulations  to  the  Michigan 
State  Agricultural  College  on  this  occasion. 

I  have  heard  men  express  the  wish  that  they  might  have  been 
born  years  later  in  order  that  they  might  live  in  times  of  greater 
progress  than  has  yet  been  witnessed,  but  I  am  satisfied  to  have 
lived  during  a  time  when  the  state  and  its  institutions  were 
building,  and  am  glad  that  I  have  known  some  of  the  men  who 
laid  the  foundations  and  those  who  began  the  superstructure 
and  have  thus  far  builded. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  men  who  founded  the  institutions 
of  this  country  builded  better  than  they  knew.  I  would  say 
that  they  did  not  build,  but  that  they  did  lay  foundations  on 
which  they  expected  their  successors  should  build  most  elegant 
structures. 

Consult,  if  you  please,  the  plans  made  by  John  D.  Pierce  for 
the  public-school  system  of  the  state,  and  say  if  it  has  been 
necessary  to  widen  the  foundations  one  whit,  that  they  might 
support  one  of  the  best  pubhc-school  systems  in  the  country. 
Is  not  the  same  true  of  the  University  and  of  our  system  of 
charitable  and  reform  institutions  ? 

Read  the  utterances  of  the  men  who  were  prominent  in 
founding  this  College,  the  first  agricultural  college  established 
in  the  United  States,  and  tell  me.  Gentlemen  of  the  Board  and 
of  the  Faculty,  if  they  did  not  lay  out  work  enough  not  only 

40 


SEMI-CENTENNL\L  CELEBRATION  41 

for  the  fifty  years  behind  you,  but  in  a  great  measure  for  fifty 
years  to  come. 

And  this  is  no  reflection  on  the  men  who  succeeded  them. 
They,  too,  have  done  their  work  well,  all  of  them  to  this  day, 
with  an  unselfish  devotion  to  the  interests  of  this  institution. 

The  Michigan  State  Agricultural  Society  was  organized  in 
1849,  just  eight  years  previous  to  the  opening  of  this  College. 
At  that  time  Michigan  was  the  twentieth  state  in  population 
and  the  fifteenth  in  wealth  by  the  assessors'  books.  Today 
she  is  the  ninth  in  population  and  the  fifth  in  wealth.  Detroit 
was  in  1850  the  twenty -third  city;  now  she  is  the  tenth  in  popu- 
lation. 

In  1849  agriculture  exceeded  in  value  all  other  industries 
in  this  state.  The  vast  mineral  wealth  of  the  state,  its  silver, 
iron,  coal,  salt,  and  cement  had  not  been  developed;  its  vast 
wealth  of  timber  was  not  known  as  a  source  of  revenue  but 
rather  as  a  hindrance  to  agriculture.  Hence  the  interest  of 
public  men,  as  well  as  of  farmers,  in  agriculture.  We  remember 
the  first  president  of  the  State  Agricultural  Society  as  the  gov- 
ernor of  the  state  and  the  members  of  its  Board  of  Managers 
were  men  most  prominent  in  public  affairs. 

It  has  been  well  for  agriculture  and  for  this  College  that  it 
has  always  had  for  its  friends  those  whose  private  interests  were 
largely  in  other  professions  and  pursuits  than  agriculture.  They 
have  been  better  and  more  courageous  friends  at  times  than  the 
farmers  themselves. 

I  recall  how,  in  the  earlier  years  of  this  College  when  the 
struggle  was  on  to  decide  whether  the  College  should  be  a 
separate  institution  or  become  part  of  the  University,  John 
C.  Holmes,  for  many  years  secretary  of  the  State  Agricultural 
Society,  never  a  farmer  but  always  interested  in  agriculture, 
stood  in  the  breach,  almost  alone,  and  prevented  its  absorption 
by  the  University. 

The  Agricultural  Society  was  organized  for  the  same  purpose 


42  MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTUR.\L  COLLEGE 

as  the  College.  The  object  as  stated  in  the  first  constitution 
was  "  to  promote  the  improvement  of  agriculture  and  its  kindred 
arts  throughout  the  State  of  Michigan."  It  made  it  the  duty  of 
its  Board  of  Managers  "to  annually  regulate  and  award  prem- 
iums on  such  articles,  productions,  and  improvements  as  they 
may  deem  best  calculated  to  promote  the  agricultural,  house- 
hold, and  manufacturing  interest  of  the  state,  having  special 
reference  to  the  most  economical  or  profitable  mode  of  compe- 
tition in  raising  the  crop  or  stock  or  in  the  fabrication  of  the 
article  offered,"  It  was  directed  "  to  pubHsh  a  report  embracing 
such  statements  of  experiments,  cultivation,  and  improvements, 
proceedings,  correspondence,  statistics,  and  other  matters, 
the  pubUcation  of  which  will  exhibit  the  condition  of  the  agri- 
cultural interests  of  Michigan,  and  a  diffused  knowledge  of 
which  will  in  the  judgment  of  the  Board  add  to  the  productive- 
ness of  agricultural  and  household  labor,  and  therefore  promote 
the  general  prosperity  of  the  state." 

Was  not  this  a  grand  work  for  a  society  of  mutual  organiza- 
tion to  take  up,  with  no  possible  hope  for  pecuniary  reward, 
and  thus  to  continue  for  now  fifty-eight  years?  Shall  we  not 
call  these  men  patriots  ? 

While  the  State  Agricultural  Society  may  be  called  an  elder 
brother  (or  sister)  to  this  College,  it  is  to  a  great  extent  its 
parent. 

Hon.  E.  H.  Lothrop,  in  a  public  address  at  the  first  fair, 
September  26,  1849,  sounded  the  first  note  for  an  agricultural 
school. 

Here  is  his  plea  for  agriculture  in  the  common  schools,  a 
pleading  we  have  been  more  than  fifty  years  in  answering: 

As  four-fifths  of  the  children  of  our  state  are  intended  for,  and  probably 
will  pursue  agriculture  as  a  profession,  and  as  a  means  of  livelihood,  then 
I  say,  make  our  common  schools  what  they  should  be,  and  let  the  branches 
there  taught  have  a  direct  reference  and  bearing  upon  the  future  business 
of  our  children.     Make  our  common  schools  the  nursery  of  farmers. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  43 

Have  we  not  been  repeating  these  words  in  later  years  and 
fancied  we  were  proposing  something  new  ?  Again  Mr.  Lothrop 
said: 

While  our  governments,  both  national  and  state,  are  truly  liberal  and 
pour  out  their  money  like  v/ater  in  the  establishment  of  literary  and  other 
public  institutions,  and  dot  our  land  over  with  theological  seminaries, 
with  law  seminaries,  with  medical  seminaries,  and  with  military  seminaries, 
poor  agriculture,  whose  hand  sows  the  seed,  and  whose  arm  gathers  the 
harvest  on  which  all  our  earthly  comforts  and  even  our  very  existence 
depend,  as  yet  has  no  seminary  in  which  to  teach  her  sons  the  most  valu- 
able of  all  arts. 

Mr.  Lothrop  also  outUned  a  Women's  Department  as 
follows : 

As  I  have  impressed  strongly  on  those  gentlemen  v/ho  have  sons,  the 
importance  of  educating  them  thoroughly  in  the  business  in  v/hich  they 
are  destined  to  follow,  let  me  say  a  v/ord  to  you  v/ho  have  daughters:  In 
addition  to  a  daily  and  thorough  training  in  the  care  and  labor  of  the  dairy 
and  all  household  affairs,  educate  them  in  everything  that  v/ill  have  a 
tendency  to  make  them  plain,  modest,  sensible,  and  useful  v/omen  and 
fit  companions  for  those  of  our  sons  who  shall  become  scientific  and  prac- 
tical farmers.  Teach  them  that  industry  is  honorable  and  adds  to  their 
charms,  and  that  the  domestic  circle  is  to  be  the  theater  of  their  future 
fame  and  glory. 

Forty-seven  years  later  this  College  estabHshed  a  course  for 
women,  a  course  which  proposes  to  give  the  training  that  Mr. 
Lothrop  named  as  essential  for  women. 

The  members  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1850 
evidently  had  heard  something  of  this  movement  for  agricultural 
education  and  embodied  in  that  constitution  the  provision  that 
the  legislature  should  as  soon  as  practicable  estabHsh  a  school 
of  agriculture.  But  legislatures  do  not  always  adopt  new  meas- 
ures "as  soon  as  practicable."  They  often  need  the  prodding 
of  the  people  behind  them  to  urge  them  along.  But  the  people 
who  organized  the  Agricultural  Society  had  in  mind  an  institu- 
tion which  should  develop  work  which  the  society  could  only 
begin  or  barely  suggest. 


44    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

Hence  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  society  held  December 
19,  1849,  in  the  village  of  Jackson,  Mr.  Bela  Hubbard  offered 
the  following  resolution : 

Resolved,  that  our  legislature  be  requested  to  pass  such  legislation  as 
shall  appear  necessary  or  expedient  for  the  establishment  of  a  central 
agricultural  office,  with  which  shall  be  connected  a  museum  of  agricul- 
tural products  and  implements,  and  an  agricultural  library,  and,  as  soon 
as  practicable,  an  Agricultural  College,  and  a  model  farm. 

A  memorial  to  the  legislature  of  1850  was  adopted,  from 
which  I  quote: 

Having  established  successfully  a  State  Agricultural  Society,  with  its 
annual  fairs,  it  is  hoped  that,  with  its  central  office,  museum,  and  library, 
a  great  step  has  been  accomplished  toward  perfecting  our  agricultural 
system.  The  next  most  important  step  in  this  process  is  the  founding  of 
a  State  Agricultural  College  and  Model  Farm. 

The  memorial  is  quite  long,  and  outHned  the  work  that 
might  be  done,  and  the  need  therefor. 

Hon.  Jos.  R.  Williams,  who  later  became  first  president  of 
this  College,  in  an  address  before  the  society  at  its  second  fair 
at  Ann  Arbor  in  1850,  started  the  call  for  an  experiment  station. 
Speaking  of  the  publication  of  addresses,  he  said,  "One  short 
expose  of  study,  of  John's  experiments,  or  Molly's  industry, 
may  prove  more  instructive  than  a  whole  oration.  On  this 
account  it  should  be  our  duty  to  preserve  the  history  and  prog- 
ress of  each  experiment  in  bringing  a  product  or  animal  to 
perfection" — a  broad  suggestion  for  an  experiment  station. 

On  April  2,  1850,  a  joint  resolution  was  passed  by  the  legis- 
lature asking  our  senators  and  representatives  in  Congress  to 
use  all  honorable  means  to  procure  from  the  United  States  a 
donation  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  acres  of  land  to 
this  state  for  the  purpose  of  estabHshing  and  maintaining  agri- 
cultural schools  therein. 

Who  can  doubt  the  distinguished  senator  from  Vermont  had 
heard  of  this  resolution  before  he  introduced  his  "land  grant 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  45 

bill"  ?  However,  if  Michigan  made  the  suggestion,  we  honor 
Senator  Morrill  for  carrying  it  to  a  successful  result. 

In  1852  both  the  Normal  School  and  the  University  an- 
nounced to  the  society  that  each  had  arranged  for  a  course  of 
lectures  on  agriculture  and  were  ready  to  carry  out  the  wishes 
of  the  society  relative  to  an  agricultural  school,  which  should 
be  a  department  of  these  institutions. 

In  January,  1853,  the  society  sent  a  committee  of  its  members 
to  visit  these  institutions  and  learn  their  faciHties  for  teaching 
agriculture.  They  came  back  and  reported  hearing  some  fine 
lectures,  but,  said  the  committee,  "we  do  not  think  the  infor- 
mation to  be  derived  from  these  sources  is  sufficient  to  constitute 
the  education  of  a  professional  and  practical  farmer,"  and 
recommended  the  purchase  of  a  farm  "where  practical  and 
scientific  education  shall  be  taught,  and  that  it  be  not  connected 
with  any  other  educational  institutions." 

The  society  kept  resolving  to  the  legislature  until  in  1855, 
by  an  act  approved  February  12,  the  president  and  executive 
committee  of  the  Michigan  State  Agricultural  Society  were 
authorized  to  select  a  location  and  site  of  not  less  than  five  hun- 
dred acres,  within  ten  miles  of  Lansing,  for  a  state  agricultural 
school,  and  in  June  of  that  year  they  came  over  and  selected 
this  spot. 

Do  you  think  the  men  who  gave  such  earnest  work  toward 
the  establishment  of  an  agricultural  school  would  not  stand 
by  it  in  after-years  ?  They  supported  the  CoUege  in  its  forma- 
tive period,  when  it  needed  friends,  with  the  same  zeal  and 
energy  used  in  promoting  its  organization,  and  for  years  held 
its  summer  meetings  at  the  College. 

In  many  cases  the  same  men  have  served  at  the  same  time 
on  the  Board  of  Agriculture  and  on  the  Executive  Committee  of 
the  Society. 

The  Agricultural  Society  appreciates  the  friendship  and  co- 
operation of  the  College.     No  shade  of  jealousy  has  ever  crept 


46  MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

in  and  nothing  but  a  desire  for  mutual  co-operation  in  helping 
to  raise  the  agriculture  of  the  state  to  its  highest  condition  exists 
between  these  two  organizations. 

Mr.  President  of  the  College  and  members  of  the  State  Board 
of  Agriculture,  I  am  authorized  and  directed  on  behalf  of  the 
Michigan  State  Agricultural  Society  to  extend  its  best  wishes 
for  further  growth  and  success. 

May  the  next  half-century  be  more  prosperous  for  the  College 
than  the  one  just  passed,  and  may  your  efforts  be  so  directed 
and  your  work  so  ordered  during  these  coming  years  that  the 
people  of  the  state  may  justly  claim  this  to  be  not  only  the 
oldest  but  the  "best  agricultural  college  in  the  country." 


ADDRESS  FOR  THE  MICHIGAN  ENGINEERING 
SOCIETY 


FRANK  HOD  OMAN 
President 


What  is  the  Michigan  Engineering  Society,  and  what  has 
it  to  do  with  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College,  or  the  College 
with  it,  that  I,  as  its  representative,  should  be  called  on  to  speak 
for  it  at  this  great  celebration? 

It  is  an  incorporated  society  composed  of  men  who  have 
graduated  from  colleges  and  universities  and  then  spent  the 
rest  of  their  lives  studying  in  that  greatest  of  all  finishing  schools, 
the  school  of  experience.  It  is  a  purely  educational  society, 
and  for  the  twenty-seven  years  of  its  existence  has  been  a  power- 
ful educational  force,  not  only  in  our  own  state,  but  all  over 
the  country,  and  reaching  out  into  foreign  countries.  Through 
its  influence  laws  have  been  made  and  unmade.  Through  its 
literature  courts  have  been  guided  in  making  their  decisions  in 
cases  which  came  within  its  special  lines.  It  began  as  a  society 
of  surveyors.  For  a  time  its  principal  discussions  were  of 
topics  connected  with  land  surveying.  Now  they  have  broad- 
ened out  imtil  they  include  topics  in  every  field  of  civil  engi- 
neering. Its  papers  and  discussions  are  pubHshed  in  an  annual 
volume  now  called  the  Michigan  Engineer.  Last  year  2,800 
copies  were  pubHshed  and  went  to  engineers  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific  coasts,  and  from  Canada  to  South  America.  By 
its  system  of  exchanges,  each  member  of  the  society  gets  annually 
from  twelve  to  sixteen  similar  pubHcations  from  other  engineer- 
ing societies.  These  publications  are  filled  with  papers  and 
discussions,  up  to  date,  and  of  the  best  type,  by  men  who  are 
known  masters  of  the  subjects  of  which  they  treat.     As  I  have 

47 


48     MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

said,  we  began  as  a  society  of  surveyors.  Numerous  problems 
were  discussed  of  which  there  were  no  solutions  in  the  textbooks 
on  surveying.  Most  of  them  were  questions  of  law  and  not 
of  mathematics  or  of  the  use  of  instruments.  The  very  first 
thing  the  society  did  was  to  appoint  a  committee  whose  duty 
was  to  prepare  a  Manual  which  should  give  authoritative 
answers  to  all  these  questions.  The  committee  spent  all  their 
spare  time  for  six  years  preparing  and  getting  out  the  book. 
They  studied  up  every  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  and  every  decision  of  the  courts  of  the  several 
states  bearing  on  the  location  of  boundary  lines.  The  outcome 
of  the  labors  of  the  committee  was  A  Manual  of  Land  Surveying, 
which  came  out  in  1886  and  is  now  in  its  fourteenth  edition. 
It  is  the  standard  authority  in  the  United  States  land  department 
and  all  over  the  United  States  on  the  subjects  of  which  it  treats. 
Since  its  first  issue  a  number  of  textbooks  on  surveying  have 
been  written  and  published,  but  there  is  not  one  of  the  whole 
lot  which  has  not  taken  some  portion  of  its  matter  from  this 
book.  More  than  one  supreme  court  decision  in  recent  years 
has  been  made  in  language  taken  from  it,  and  many  another 
court  has  found  in  its  pages  the  authorities  on  which  to  base  a 
decision.  About  the  time  the  book  was  pubUshed,  the  supreme 
court  of  Michigan  gave  its  decision  in  the  boundary  case  of 
Wilson  vs.  Hoffman,  in  which  it  was  stated  that  the  court 
followed  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
in  the  case  of  Brown's  lessees  vs.  Clements.  The  Michigan 
decision  was  criticized  in  the  society  and  it  was  shown  that  the 
Brown^s  lessees  vs.  Clements  decision  had  been  reversed  years 
ago  by  the  same  court  which  made  it,  in  another  suit  over  the 
very  same  boundary  line,  as  not  being  good  law  nor  in  accord- 
ance with  the  settled  practice  of  the  land  department  in  the 
sale  of  the  public  lands.  When  this  criticism  reached  the 
Michigan  judges,  they  promptly,  of  their  own  motion,  recalled 
the  Wilson  vs.  Hoffman  case  and  reversed  their  own  decision. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  49 

The  active  members  of  the  committee  who  prepared  that  Manual 
of  Land  Surveying  and  who  from  the  knowledge  gained  in  its 
preparation  were  enabled  to  criticize  our  supreme  court  with 
such  results  were  M.  A.  C.  men. 

The  production  of  this  Manual  practically  settled  all  the 
knotty  questions  with  which  the  land  surveyors  had  to  deal. 
From  that  time  on,  the  papers  and  discussions  in  the  society 
took  in  a  wider  range  of  subjects  covering  nearly  the  whole 
scope  of  civil  and  mechanical  engineering  practice.  Members 
who  had  been  only  land  surveyors  began  to  develop  into  en- 
gineers. The  annual  conventions  brought  them  in  contact  with 
some  of  the  brightest  and  best  men  of  the  profession  from  whom 
they  learned  directly,  while  from  the  publications  which  they 
received  from  the  society  they  got  a  mass  of  up-to-date  engineer- 
ing literature  which  was  an  education  of  itself. 

The  character  of  the  subjects  discussed  in  the  society  has 
changed  from  time  to  time,  but  at  all  times  the  leading  papers 
and  discussions  have  been  on  live  topics  in  which  both  the 
profession  and  the  people  were  interested  at  the  time.  At  one 
time  sanitary  engineering  had  the  lead ;  at  another,  road-making 
was  at  the  front;  at  other  times  mechanical  topics  have  led; 
but  whatever  the  subjects  discussed,  the  prime  object  and 
imderlying  motive  has  not  been  individual  advancement  but 
the  public  welfare;  to  learn  how  to  give  the  public  better  service, 
better  roads,  better  health,  better  everything  with  which  the 
surveyor  or  engineer  has  to  do.  What  had  M.  A.  C.  to  do 
with  all  this  ?  Professor  R.  C.  Carpenter  of  M.  A.  C.  was  one 
of  the  two  projectors  and  promoters  of  the  society.  Whether 
the  conception  originated  with  him  or  Mr.  J.  E.  Sherman  I  am 
not  certain,  but  they  two  brought  about  the  organization  of  the 
society.  After  the  organization  Professor  Carpenter  was  its 
secretary  and  treasurer  for  six  years  and  was  then  elected  its 
president.  Following  him  as  secretary  was  another  alumnus 
of  M.  A.  C,  who  up  to  that  time  had  been  a  district  vice-presi- 


50  MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

dent  and  who  filled  the  office  of  secretary-treasurer  for  twenty 
consecutive  years,  leaving  it  to  become  president.  Of  the 
sixteen  men  who  have  held  the  office  of  president,  four  have 
been  M.  A.  C.  men.  Of  the  membership  at  large  there  has 
always  been  a  liberal  number  who  came  to  us  from  M.  A.  C. 

The  society  has  a  warm  feeling  of  friendship  for  all  the 
schools  which  are  fitting  men  to  become  members  of  the  profes- 
sion. We  have  a  special  pride  in  the  two  great  schools  of  our 
own  state,  the  University  of  Michigan  and  the  Michigan  Agricul- 
tural College,  which  are  engaged  in  that  work.  Those  of  us 
who  laid  the  foundations  of  our  professional  education  right 
here  are  more  than  proud  of  our  Alma  Mater,  of  what  she  has 
done  and  what  she  is  now  doing  for  the  education  of  what  we 
deem  one  of  the  finest  types  of  manhood — honest,  true,  and 
able  engineers. 


ADDRESS  FOR  THE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 


PRESIDENT  LEWIS  HENRY  JONES 
Ypsilanti  State  Normal  College 


I  have  the  honor  to  bring  greetings  from  the  oldest  insti- 
tution for  the  training  of  teachers  west  of  the  Alleghenies  to  the 
oldest  institution  in  the  West  which  devotes  itself  to  technical 
training  in  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts.  Our  fervent 
wish  is  that  prosperity  attend  you  in  all  your  ways  to  the  end 
that  the  commonwealth  may  continue  to  receive  at  your  hands 
well-trained  citizens,  with  that  happy  balance  of  culture  and 
efficiency  which  you  so  well  represent  in  your  courses  of  study 
and  your  teaching  practice.  We  have  recently  had  coined  three 
catching  phrases  descriptive  of  tendencies  more  or  less  evident 
in  American  life,  and  more  or  less  represented  in  our  educational 
institutions.  The  celebrated  French  preacher,  Charles  Wagner, 
coined  and  placed  in  circulation  the  phrase,  "the  simple  life," 
thereby  eulogizing  that  happy  poise  of  mind  resulting  from  a 
kind  of  culture  which  finds  its  interests  mainly  within — or  at 
least  within  the  domain  of — the  spiritual  Hfe.  Our  honored 
President  of  these  United  States  has  invented  and  exempHfied 
the  phrase,  "the  strenuous  life,"  laying  emphasis  at  least  upon 
the  outward  struggle  in  which  power  delights  itself  in  contending 
with  problems  which  tax  its  utmost  strength.  Hon.  Frank  A. 
Vanderlip,  vice-president  of  the  New  York  City  Bank,  in  an 
address  before  the  National  Education  Association,  at  Asbury 
Park,  used  the  phrase,  "  the  efficient  life,"  as  expressing  a  modern 
idea  of  the  union  of  knowledge  and  effort  by  directing  these 
in  practical  ways  toward  the  accomplishing  of  ends  directly 
increasing  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  the  people. 

Each  of  these  phrases  is  in  a  way  a  happy  putting  of  a  half  - 

SI 


52     MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

truth  about  life;  but  of  the  three  the  last  is  by  all  odds  the 
best.  It  requires  all  the  poise  of  the  first  and  the  enthusiasm 
of  the  second,  but  it  harmonizes  them  so  that  the  former  may 
not  rust  itself  away  in  inglorious  ease,  nor  the  latter  waste  itself 
in  tempestuous  riot.  This  is  what  it  seems  to  me  this  institution 
typifies  and  stands  for.  Your  classrooms  and  laboratories  stand 
for  intelhgence,  knowledge,  and  culture ;  your  broad  acres  and 
your  varied  industries  stand  for  practical  use  of  those  ideas 
gained  in  classroom  and  laboratory.  There  is  no  place  here 
for  intellectual  conceptions  or  abstract  philosophies  dissociated 
from  throbbing  and  pulsating  life.  Nor  is  there  any  mere 
place  here  for  purposeless  wear  and  tear  of  nerve  and  muscle 
in  undirected  labor — no  place  for  mere  strenuosity  undirected  to 
desirable  ends — rather,  the  happy  combination  of  culture  and 
effort  which  seeks  first  to  find  out  nature's  laws  and  then  to 
adapt  them  to  the  accomplishment  of  beneficent  ends  under 
direction  of  quickened  brain  and  cultured  mind. 

But  as  a  state  institution  this  College  stands  as  one  of  the 
great  forces  which  the  commonwealth  of  Michigan  maintains 
for  the  purpose  of  sustaining  its  own  life  and  defending  itself 
against  unproductive  people.  In  the  end  the  agricultural  col- 
lege must  justify  itself  on  this  ground — it  must  produce  efficient 
citizens,  who  shall  be  worth  to  the  state  all  the  state  pays  for 
their  education,  w^ith  enough  margin  left  to  make  it  expedient  to 
organize  and  carry  out  the  elaborate  plans  everywhere  in  evi- 
dence about  us. 

Undesirable  citizenship  may  assume  Protean  forms  and  hide 
itself  under  many  disguises.  But  broadly  considered  we  may 
cluster  the  undesirable  attributes  under  two  great  heads — 
criminality  and  incompetence.  The  former  includes  the  posi- 
tively bad,  and  the  latter  the  good,  so  long  as  they  are  good 
for  nothing.  There  is  a  widespread  conception  among  a  large 
class  of  people  that  the  ordinary  forms  of  public  education  are 
too  abstract  and  formal  in  their  character,  and  that  in  their 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  S3 

present  forms  they  do  not  tend  toward  morality  and  efficiency. 
It  is  true  that  in  many  instances  public  education  is  entirely 
too  formal,  being  devoted  more  to  books  than  to  things,  to 
general  than  to  special  matters,  and  to  abstract  truth  rather  than 
to  practical  affairs.  Nevertheless,  even  in  its  present  form,  the 
whole  tendency  of  public  education  is  distinctly  moral  and  tends 
directly  toward  competency.  I  may  be  allowed  to  illustrate 
two  cases  briefly.  Some  time  during  the  90's  my  attention  was 
called  to  a  report  made  by  the  superintendent  of  the  Detroit 
House  of  Correction  in  which  the  statement  was  made  that  75 
per  cent,  of  the  inmates  of  that  institution  could  read  and  write. 
One  of  the  Detroit  papers  commented  editorially  upon  this 
fact,  implying  that  because  75  per  cent,  of  the  criminals  confined 
in  the  Detroit  House  of  Correction  were  educated  in  the  limited 
sense  of  being  able  to  read  and  write,  and  only  25  per  cent,  of 
the  criminals  confined  there  were  totally  illiterate,  therefore 
public  education,  such  as  these  people  had,  increased  their 
tendency  toward  criminality  in  the  ratio  of  75  to  25.  I  had 
occasion  to  answer  this  accusation  before  a  meeting  of  the 
National  Education  Association.  I  called  attention  to  the 
fallacy  in  the  editorial  by  showing  that,  according  to  the  report 
of  the  state  superintendent  of  public  instruction  for  that  same 
year,  96  per  cent,  of  the  population  of  Michigan  could  read  and 
write — that  is,  were  educated  to  that  extent,  some  of  them 
doubtless  beyond  that  point;  and  that  4  per  cent,  only  of  the 
population  of  Michigan  was  at  that  time  totally  illiterate.  It 
resulted,  therefore,  in  the  fact  that  the  25  per  cent,  of  the 
persons  confined  in  the  Detroit  House  of  Correction,  represent- 
ing as  it  did  the  entire  state,  came  from  this  4  per  cent,  of  the 
population;  while  the  75  per  cent,  of  the  criminals  came  from 
that  large  proportion  of  the  population  who  could  read  and 
write,  namely,  the  96  per  cent.  Reducing  to  a  common  denom- 
inator, therefore,  it  was  discovered  that  the  4  per  cent,  of  the 
population  of  Michigan  which  was  at  that  time  totally  ilHterate 


54     MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

produced  seven  and  one-half  times  its  proper  ratio  of  criminals. 
This  has  been  shown  to  be  substantially  the  fact  time  and 
again  in  the  study  of  statistics  over  wide  areas — that  even  that 
small  degree  of  education  which  is  indicated  by  the  power 
to  read  and  write  has  its  distinctly  moral  effect  upon  those  who 
receive  it. 

The  same  point  which  I  wish  to  illustrate  with  respect  to 
efficiency  was  discovered  in  1837  by  Horace  Mann,  then  secre- 
tary of  the  State  Board  of  Education  of  Massachusetts.  He 
examined  the  pay-rolls  of  the  factory  workers  in  the  manufac- 
turing districts  of  Massachusetts,  especially  the  mills  at  Lowell 
and  Lawrence.  He  discovered,  by  making  the  test  suggested 
by  the  ability  on  the  part  of  the  worker  to  write  the  name  to  the 
pay-roll  instead  of  being  compelled  by  total  ilHteracy  to  make  a 
mark,  that  those  who  were  able  through  slight  education  to 
write  their  names  received  one-third  more  pay  than  did  that 
contingent  of  those  persons  who  were  obliged  to  place  their 
mark  upon  the  pay-roll  instead  of  writing  their  names.  In  the 
ability  to  write  one's  name  there  was  evidence  of  a  one-third 
increase  in  competency. 

But  here  stands  an  institution  that  is  dedicated  to  the  making 
of  education  distinctly  moral  and  efficient,  in  that  it  tends  to 
develop  that  capability  which  comes  from  the  power  to  do  things 
well.  This  is  distinctively  a  moral  force,  since  it  develops  self- 
respect  in  the  individual  and  brings  out  the  spirit  of  noblesse 
oblige  upon  his  part.  But  beyond  this,  the  tendency  of  this 
institution  is  to  make  people  distinctly  intelligent  and  capable 
of  doing  certain  work  efficiently  because  of  the  investigations 
which  they  have  made  in  classrooms,  laboratories,  and  fields 
belonging  to  this  institution.  Many  times  over  does  this  insti- 
tution return  to  the  state  the  amount  expended  for  it  in  the 
increased  morality  and  efficiency  of  the  citizenship  of  this 
commonwealth,  and  because  of  this  it  deserves  the  constant  sup- 
port and  good-will  of  the  people  of  this  state. 


ADDRESS  FOR  THE  DENOMINATIONAL  COLLEGES 


PRESIDENT  AUGUST  F.  BRUSKE 
Alma  College 


Mr.  President,  Ladies,  and  Gentlemen: 

I  am  here  as  the  representative  of  a  church  school  to  offer 
heartiest  felicitations  to  a  state  school.  I  am  glad  of  the  privilege 
of  rendering  this  service,  both  because  of  our  agreements  and 
because  of  our  differences.  We  are  agreed  in  that  we  are  seek- 
ing the  highest  culture  of  the  young  people  placed  under  our 
care.  This  is  the  rock  foundation  of  every  school  in  the  world. 
This  is  the  sacred  unity  of  all  education.  In  the  name  of  this 
unity  of  culture  I  greet  you  today. 

But  we  are  equally  happy  in  our  differences.  The  peculiar 
purpose  of  your  culture  is  indicated  in  the  name  you  bear. 
You  are  an  "agricultural  college."  Your  outlook  is  upon  the 
farm.  The  fragrance  of  the  grain  fields  is  yours;  the  sweet- 
ness of  the  clover  fields  is  yours;  and  the  "cattle  upon  a 
thousand  hills"  are  yours.  This  does  not  mean  that  all  of 
your  graduates  will  become  farmers;  but  that  all  the  graduates 
choosing  that  vocation  will  be  intelligent  and  scientific  farmers. 
Not  every  law  student  becomes  an  attorney;  not  every  medical 
student  becomes  a  physician;  and  not  every  student  of  Alma 
College  becomes  a  preacher.  Our  constant  endeavor  is  so  to 
train  him  that  whether  he  becomes  a  preacher,  teacher,  or  mer- 
chant, he  shall  be  a  cultivated  Christian  gentleman,  true  to 
the  church,  true  to  that  "kingdom  which  is  an  everlasting 
kingdom  and  that  dominion  that  endureth  through  all  genera- 
tions." Your  outlook  is  upon  the  farm,  our  outlook  is  upon 
the  church.  Therefore  there  can  be  no  strife  between  us.  Our 
congratulations  this  day  are  as  sincere  as  they  are  hearty.     We 

55 


56     MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

rejoice  with  you  in  what  you  have  achieved,  in  what  you  are 
achieving,  and  in  what  you  are  destined  to  achieve. 

This  vast  muhitude  gathered  here,  these  beautiful  grounds 
and  buildings,  these  many  hundreds  of  students,  these  distin- 
guished alumni  from  every  part  of  our  country,  all  bear  abundant 
witness  to  the  splendid  work  of  fifty  years.  Of  this  much  will 
be  said  in  these  jubilee  days.  Let  me  rather  therefore  say  a 
word  concerning  the  present  and  the  future  of  your  noble  work. 

Certain  orators  are  fond  of  telling  us  that  we  are  living  in 
the  days  of  agricultural  renaissance.  Not  so.  It  is  not  a 
rebirth  that  we  are  witnessing,  but  rather  a  new  birth.  We 
are  living  in  the  six  days  of  the  Creation  of  Scientific  Agriculture. 
Science  for  the  first  time  is  moving  onto  the  farm.  That  hopeless 
picture  of  "The  Man  with  a  Hoe"  may  be  true  of  the  past.  It 
is  not  true  of  the  fife  of  today,  thanks  to  the  agricultural  colleges 
of  the  world.  They  have  changed  the  hopeless,  brainless  "man 
with  a  hoe"  into  a  Robert  Clark  Kedzie,  father  of  the  beet- 
sugar  industry  of  Michigan — into  a  Luther  Burbank,  creator 
of  a  new  world  of  flowers  and  plants  and  trees. 

They  tell  us.  Sir,  that  the  trend  toward  life  in  the  city  cannot 
be  arrested;  that  in  1800  less  than  4  per  cent,  of  our  population 
dwelt  in  cities,  and  that  in  1900,  s;^  per  cent,  were  to  be  found 
there.  They  tell  us  that  the  application  of  machinery  to  agri- 
culture has  driven  multitudes  from  the  farm.  In  1870  there 
was  one  man  engaged  in  farming  to  every  seventeen  acres  of 
cultivated  land,  in  1890  there  was  one  to  every  twenty-six  acres. 
This  machinery  has  driven  four  and  one-half  millions  of  farmers 
together  with  their  families  from  the  soil  to  the  city.  And  this 
is  bound  to  continue.  If  so  it  only  means  that  the  farmer 
of  the  future  will  be  a  brain  worker  rather  than  a  hand  worker. 
It  means  that  the  agricultural  college  will  be  a  greater  necessity 
to  the  future  than  it  has  been  to  the  past.  That  future,  radiant 
with  the  promise  of  abundant  usefulness,  beckons  to  you.  In 
the  possibilities  of  that  future  let  all  men  rejoice ! 


INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION  AND  THE  STATE 

[Summary] 


LUTHER  L.  WRIGHT 
Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction 


I  admire  and  reverence  this  beneficent  institution  because 
it  has  always  been  democratic,  has  always  kept  close  to  the 
people,  and  has  never  forgotten  its  purpose.  I  congratulate  the 
state  on  having  at  its  head  a  man  who  has  the  ability  to  make 
it  what  it  is. 

The  public  school  is  the  creator  and  preserver  of  democracy. 
In  it  every  individual  takes  his  rightful  place.  It  levels  among 
children  all  distinctions  of  wealth.  It  humbles  pride  of  birth. 
Native,  rugged  strength  is  the  leader  in  that  democracy.  There 
is  no  fear  for  democracy  from  the  hordes  and  swarms  of  foreign- 
ers who  have  come  and  are  daily  coming  into  this  country  like 
a  cloud  of  locusts.  The  public  school  will  make  Americans  of 
their  children  in  language,  ideals,  thought,  and  customs.  This 
Americanizing  process  cannot  be  stayed  or  thwarted  so  long  as 
the  pubhc  school  can  have  these  children. 

The  common  school  is  a  hopper  into  which  are  poured  all 
kinds  of  grain,  German,  Irish,  Polish,  Scandinavian,  ItaUan, 
and  Hungarian,  but  it  all  comes  out  flour  whose  grade  is  essen- 
tially American.  The  elephant  feeds  on  the  trees  of  his  native 
jungle,  but  what  he  absorbs  becomes  elephant  and  not  tree. 
So  whatever  America  absorbs  from  Europe,  if  it  can  but  go 
through  the  American  public  school,  becomes  American  and 
not  European. 

Industrial  education  is  the  problem  for  this  state,  and  you 
who  make  public  sentiment  will  solve  it.  Speed  the  day  when 
manual  training,  domestic  science,   and  agriculture  shall  be 

57 


S8  MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

taught  in  every  school  in  Michigan.  I  hope  to  live  long  enough 
to  see  public  trade  schools  established  in  the  centers  where  the 
state  shall  aid,  not  only  in  the  education  of  the  culture  side,  but 
in  that  practical  education  that  will  train  boys  and  girls  to  earn 
a  living  and  to  do  work  with  their  hands. 

Training  in  agriculture,  in  the  scientific  knowledge  of  the 
art  of  farming,  will  add  more  to  the  wealth  of  the  state  than 
will  all  its  copper  and  iron  mines.  Manual  training  and  the 
trade  school  will  add  infinitely  to  the  skill  of  craftsmen  and  the 
products  of  our  factories.  Domestic  science  will  give  us  better 
homes,  better  health,  more  comfort,  and  lasting  happiness. 

This  practical  industrial  training  will  amphfy  and  round 
out  the  purely  mind-studies  and  will  make  for  the  complete  man. 
This,  to  my  mind,  should  be  the  great  purpose  of  the  states. 


THE  BUILDERS  OF  THE  COLLEGE 
WEDNESDAY  AFTERNOON 


THE  COLLEGE  AND  THE  STUDENTS,  1857-1860 


CHARLES  JAY  MONROE 


The  College,  when  I  first  saw  it  May  10,  1857,  consisted  of 
a  tract  of  mainly  timber  land,  without  an  acre  fully  cleared. 
A  few  acres  had  been  slashed  down  and  the  logs  and  brush 
cleared.  On  every  hand  were  old  stubs  and  partially  burned 
trees.  The  fire  had  scorched  the  timber  next  to  the  clearing, 
so  that  at  every  point  of  the  compass  to  which  you  turned,  you 
beheld  dead  and  blackened  trees  which  presented  a  most  deso- 
late scene.  There  are  a  few  pictures  in  the  library  which  give 
a  faint  idea  of  it. 

College  Hall,  a  dormitory,  and  a  small  brick  barn  constituted 
the  buildings.  The  old  dormitory,  known  for  many  years  as 
"  Saints'  Rest,"  stood  a  little  east  of  the  present  site  of  Wilhams 
Hall,  and  was  burned  in  1876.  These  buildings  were  sur- 
rounded by  logs  and  stumps,  the  carpenters'  and  masons' 
leavings,  and  other  rubbish.  The  roads  to  the  buildings  were 
lined  with  stumps  which  had  been  dug  or  pulled  out  and  in 
some  cases  partially  burned. 

The  road  from  the  College  to  lower  Lansing  was  fairly  good, 
judged  by  the  road  standard  of  those  days.  Lansing  consisted 
of  three  parts,  Upper,  Middle,  and  Lower,  and  the  distances 
and  partition  woods  between  them  were  sufficient  to  make  them 
distinct  towns. 

The  travel  to  the  College  was  mainly  from  Middle  Lansing, 
via  Michigan  Avenue.  This  street  was  usually  a  mud  hole  from 
the  hotels  to  the  College,  particularly  in  the  spring  and  fall, 
and  was  lined  with  timber  except  now  and  then  a  small  opening 
made  by  new  settlers.  In  this  connection  I  wish  to  call  attention 
to  the  large  stone  beside  the  road  with  a  fair-sized  tree  seemingly 

61 


62    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

growing  through  it.  As  I  remember  it,  the  crack  was  then 
small  and  only  partly  across  the  stone,  and  the  tree  was  about 
the  size  of  a  finger.  It  was  the  frequent  resting-place  on  the 
trips  to  and  from  Lansing.  I  suspect  that  the  growth  of  the 
tree  is  largely  due  to  the  mud  scraped  from  the  shoes  of  the  way- 
farers, which  furnished  soil  and  water  and  created  a  sort  of 
common  ownership  in  the  many  contributors.  I  doubt  if  any 
boy  in  subsequent  years  passes  the  stone  and  tree  without  think- 
ing of  college  days. 

Lansing  had  no  railroads.  The  nearest  were  the  Detroit 
and  Milwaukee  at  St.  Johns,  and  the  Michigan  Central  at 
Jackson.  Most  of  the  boys  came  by  these  routes.  From  Jack- 
son to  Eaton  Rapids  there  was  a  plank  road,  but  it  had  so  many 
broken  or  missing  planks  that  for  a  good  deal  of  the  way  the 
square  edges  of  the  plank  made  it  worse  than  the  round  logs 
of  a  corduroy.  From  Eaton  Rapids  to  Lansing  it  was  mainly 
mud  holes.  We  regarded  ourselves  as  fortunate  if  we  got  our 
trunks  through,  even  by  carrying  a  pole  or  rail  for  considerable 
distances  to  pry  the  old  stage  out  of  mud  holes. 

Personally,  I  did  not  know  as  to  the  road  from  St.  Johns. 
I  only  recall  that  when  there  was  a  comparison  between  those 
from  the  north  and  from  the  south,  one  would  conclude  that 
both  were  among  the  worst  in  the  state.  It  is  fair  to  state  that 
the  vacations  in  those  days  were  in  the  spring  and  fall,  and  so 
at  the  seasons  of  the  year  when  the  roads  were  at  their  worst. 

The  dedication  exercises  were  held  May  13,  1857,  in  the 
college  room  usually  known  as  the  chapel.  This  room  has 
been  the  general  meeting-place  for  all  sorts  of  gatherings  for 
fifty  years.  At  the  dedication  it  was  crowded  to  its  Hmit,  and 
many  stood  about  the  doors,  both  inside  and  out.  With  two 
others  I  stood  in  the  south  center  window,  the  platform  being 
on  the  north,  or  opposite,  side. 

The  next  day  those  wishing  to  enter  the  College  met  in  this 
same  room  as  requested  by  the  president.     They  were  required, 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  63 

as  I  remember,  to  register  their  names,  ages,  residence,  and 
occupation,  and  state  the  occupation  they  expected  to  follow 
after  leaving  college.  Then  the  rooms  were  designated  where 
they  could  go  for  examination.  Fortunately  for  many  of  us, 
the  questions  were  easy.  The  next  day  we  again  assembled, 
and  all  who  had  passed  were  assigned  rooms.  There  were 
four  students  to  each  room,  to  do  their  own  chamber  work. 
Within  a  day  or  two  we  were  again  called  to  the  chapel  by  the 
president.  He  stated  that  for  the  present  he  wished  to  assign 
the  work  as  far  as  possible  to  those  familiar  with  the  work  desig- 
nated. A  show  of  hands  was  asked,  for  those  accustomed  to 
driving  horses.  Probably  four-fifths  responded.  After  a  few 
questions,  the  teamsters  were  chosen.  Next,  those  familiar  with 
oxen,  a  less  number,  responded.  I  was  named  to  drive  one 
yoke.  The  call  was  continued  until  nearly  all  the  different 
sorts  of  work  were  mentioned  and  someone  of  those  lifting  the 
hand  would  be  designated. 

The  first  work,  in  which  nearly  all  took  part,  was  cleaning 
up  the  carpenters',  painters',  masons',  and  plumbers'  rubbish, 
and  clearing  away  the  logs  and  brush  near  the  buildings.  As 
I  remember  it  there  was  not  an  acre  fully  cleared  on  the  farm — 
that  is,  with  stumps  out  as  well  as  logs  and  brush  removed. 
Later  there  were  many  changes  made  in  the  assignments.  As  for 
myself,  I  continued  to  drive  the  oxen  through  the  summer  of 
1857,  mainly  on  the  stump  machine.  In  the  summer  of  1858 
I  drove  the  same  team  as  a  logging  team,  and  they  were  extra. 

Visitors  coming  to  the  logging  field  who  were  famiHar  with 
that  sort  of  work  were  sure  to  notice  and  admire  the  team. 
Those  remembering  back  to  the  days  when  clearing  and  logging 
were  a  prominent  part  of  the  work  in  Michigan  will  realize  that 
a  good  logging  team  was  highly  valued,  and  their  abihty  to  make 
a  log  snap  was  often  praised. 

I  recall  an  incident  which  occurred  at  a  near  neighbor's. 
A  Mr.  Seaver  had  an  extra  yoke  of  oxen  of  which  he  was  very 


64    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

proud.  As  I  was  passing  the  field  with  several  friends  where 
he  was  logging,  one  of  the  party  expressed  the  wish  to  drive 
out  and  see  the  men  roll  up  a  log  heap.  I  introduced  my  friends 
and  stated  they  would  Hke  to  see  a  heap  made ;  I  also  remarked 
that  I  was  sure  they  would  Hke  to  see  his  oxen  draw  the  logs. 
He  hitched  to  a  long  one  and  waved  to  everybody  to  keep  away 
from  the  switch  end,  then  sprang  toward  the  oxen  with  raised 
whip,  calling  out,  "  Haw,  Buck."  This  brought  the  oxen  toward 
him  and  he,  dancing  back  to  keep  out  of  their  way,  stammered 
out,  "  I  beg  your  pardon,  I  beg  your  pardon,  Buck,I  meant,  Gee." 

In  the  winter  of  1857  and  1858  chopping  was  the  principal 
work.  Over  a  hundred  acres  on  the  south  side  of  the  river  was 
slashed  into  windrows  and  burned  the  following  summer.  We 
worked  in  three  divisions,  two  and  one-half  hours  each — first, 
7  to  9:30;  second,  9:30  to  12;  third,  1:30  to  4.  The  second 
was  expected  to  be  out  in  time  to  take  the  tools  of  the  first,  the 
rule  being  that  the  same  boys  should  follow  each  other  in  the 
use  of  the  same  ax. 

An  incident  occurred  the  latter  part  of  the  winter  which 
furnished  considerable  amusement  and  was  made  the  subject 
of  a  very  entertaining  essay  read  before  the  Lyceum.  As 
division  No.  2  was  leaving  the  dressing-room  (where  clothes 
were  changed  or  overalls  put  on  over  the  ordinary  suit)  word 
was  received  that  a  bee  tree  had  been  found  and  that  the  boys 
of  No.  I  division  were  having  a  treat  of  honey.  The  boys  of 
No.  2  abandoned  the  usual  custom  of  marching  in  Indian  style 
of  single  file  and  struck  a  double  quick  for  the  scene  of  feasting. 
The  bridge  was  a  large  fallen  tree  reaching  from  bank  to  bank. 
Ordinarily  it  was  adequate,  but  on  this  occasion  when  the 
whole  squad  were  having  a  neck-and-neck  race  and  all  were 
wanting  to  cross  at  the  same  time,  it  resulted  in  several  taking  a 
forced  bath  before  the  coveted  feast.  Arriving  at  the  scene,  a 
pitched  battle  occurred  which  discounted  a  college  rush. 
Besides,  the  bright  sun  warmed  up  the  bees,  and  they  with 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  65 

natural  patriotism  sought  in  a  very  stinging  manner  to  defend 
their  home  and  honey.  They  inflicted  a  good  many  wounds 
which  soon  became  prominent  and  remained  so  for  several 
days.  Like  all  great  battles  the  sad  scenes  came  afterward. 
While  none  were  killed  and  only  a  few  wounded  as  above  stated, 
the  after  effects  of  the  hearty  feast  of  honey  mixed  with  rotten 
wood  proved  very  disastrous  in  its  relaxing  effects,  and  sent 
most  of  the  participants  to  the  hospital.  Few  wanted  any  dinner 
and  a  less  number  went  to  the  afternoon  classes. 

The  principal  work  of  1858  was  clearing  the  land,  especially 
that  cut  over  the  previous  winter.  Some  corn,  oats,  potatoes, 
and  garden  truck  were  raised  and  the  old  apple  orchard  was  set 
out.  The  most  notable  and  impressive  event  of  the  season  was 
the  fever  and  ague.  The  plowing  and  stirring  of  a  hundred 
acres  or  more  of  new  land  with  all  its  decaying  vegetation  turned 
loose  an  immense  amount  of  miasma.  The  remark  often  made, 
"that  it  was  thick  enough  to  cut  with  a  case  knife,"  had  much 
truth  in  it.  In  the  latter  part  of  August  and  fore  part  of  Sep- 
tember there  were  70  out  of  100  students  unable  to  attend  classes, 
at  least  they  could  come  only  every  other  day,  as  the  fever  was 
mainly  intermittent.  That  is,  one  day  the  patient  felt  as  well 
as  ever,  and  the  next,  never  felt  worse.  The  main  consolation 
the  sufferer  got  was  the  frequent  assurance  that  it  was  only  the 
ague  and  nobody  ever  died  from  it.  Classes  were  greatly  inter- 
rupted and  in  some  cases  suspended  for  a  short  time.  Many 
of  the  students  became  very  impatient  at  the  interruption  of 
classes;  some  not  familiar  with  fever  and  ague  declared  that  it 
was  unnecessary,  that  the  boys  were  just  as  well  as  ever  part  of 
the  time  and  might  get  their  lessons  and  not  be  holding  others 
back.  I  had  a  roommate  who  was  of  this  way  of  thinking  and 
unwittingly  expressed  it  too  freely.  As  my  boyhood  home  was 
on  the  windward  side  of  a  mill  pond  I  knew  personally  of  its 
debilitating  effects  and  still  more  of  it  from  frequent  observa- 
tions of  others,  and  reminded  him  it  was  a  more  weakening  and 


66    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

serious  disease  than  he  could  appreciate  without  actual  expe- 
rience. A  little  later  it  got  hold  of  him.  He  was  a  sturdy, 
pushing  New  Englander  and  fought  it  off  bravely,  keeping  up 
his  work  and  study.  One  morning  about  lo  o'clock  I  came  in 
from  work  and  found  him  behind  the  stove  doing  his  best  to 
keep  his  knees  from  shaking,  his  chair  from  rattHng,  and  his 
teeth  from  chattering.  He  put  up  his  hand  imploringly  and 
said,  "Don't  say  a  word;  if  I  ever  get  over  this  I'll  never  say 
another  thing  about  anybody,  as  this  is  the  meanest  disease  I 
ever  saw." 

The  principal  work  of  the  winter  of  1858-1859  was  chopping, 
only  instead  of  slashing  it  down  we  cut  a  large  amount  into 
four-foot  wood,  which  was  drawn  to  a  long  shed  just  east  of  the 
old  boarding-hall.  This  furnished  us  rainy-day  work  or  enter- 
tainment, fiddhng  it  up  with  a  bucksaw. 

About  a  dozen  of  us  remained  through  the  spring  vacation 
doing  chores,  cutting  wood,  etc.,  and  four  of  us  were  able  to 
recall  in  the  Lincoln  campaign  that  we  had  been  rail  spUtters. 
A  pleasant  event  of  this  vacation  was  our  invitation  to  and 
attendance  at  the  marriage  of  our  Professor  Tracy  to  Miss 
Sessions,  professor  of  mathematics  of  the  Michigan  Female 
Seminary,  of  which  I  shall  speak  later. 

The  summer  of  1859  the  College  can  fairly  reckon  as  its 
first  year  in  which  the  production  of  farm  crops  and  garden 
truck  was  the  principal  work  of  the  students.  All  of  the  ordinary 
farm  crops  were  raised  and  the  quahty  and  quantity  compared 
favorably  with  those  of  the  best  farms  in  this  vicinity.  The 
garden  in  variety,  quahty,  and  quantity  was  by  far  the  best 
up  to  this  date  and  added  greatly  to  the  pleasure,  comfort,  and 
economy  of  hving  at  the  College. 

The  late  Professor  Prentiss  of  Cornell,  who  was  a  classmate, 
had  the  superintendence  of  the  garden  and  directed  the  work  in 
the  afternoon,  and  it  was  my  pleasure  to  assist  him  by  having 
charge  in  the  forenoon. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  67 

As  the  work  of  the  four  previous  terms  had  been  mainly  such 
as  I  had  been  accustomed  to  in  the  childhood  home — it  being 
heavy  timber  and  the  clearings  commenced  about  the  time  I 
was  born — I  got  Httle  that  was  new  or  helpful,  except  as  the 
continued  doing  of  any  task  makes  one  more  expert  in  it.  But 
the  work,  experience,  and  observation  which  I  had  in  the  two 
summer  terms  of  1859,  which  included  the  gathering,  labeling, 
and  arranging  of  seeds,  I  have  felt  were  of  great  advantage  to 
me,  for  which  I  have  always  been  grateful. 

I  have  previously  mentioned  the  "Fem  Sem,"  a  short  name 
for  the  Michigan  Female  Seminary,  at  Lansing  in  charge  of  the 
Rogers  Sisters.  There  was  some  visiting  of  the  girls  at  their 
college  during  the  summer  of  1858,  possibly  started  and  en- 
couraged by  the  fact  that  Professor  Tracy,  in  whose  charge  the 
overseeing  of  the  boys  principally  was,  was  in  the  habit  of 
visiting  one  of  its  teachers,  to  whom  he  was  subsequently  married, 
as  stated  above.  The  mutual  interest  and  visiting  between  the 
two  colleges  were  greatly  increased  in  October,  1858,  when  the 
M.  A.  C.  boys  were  invited  to  a  husking  bee  at  the  "Fem  Sem." 
A  field  of  several  acres  of  corn,  as  I  remember,  stood  just  east 
of  the  buildings,  now  used  for  the  School  for  the  BHnd.  The 
night  was  Hghted  by  one  of  those  brilliant  harvest  moons  and 
also  by  the  smiling  faces  of  the  "Fem  Sem"  students  who  acted 
as  partners  in  the  husking.  The  number  of  red  ears  found  was 
quite  remarkable,  in  fact  so  many  and  so  well  scattered  over  the 
field  were  they,  that  they  occasioned  a  good  deal  of  querying, 
some  declaring  that  the  planter  must  have  had  foreknowledge 
as  to  the  future  buskers.  When  the  corn  was  all  husked  and 
picked  up,  and  the  stalks  bound  and  set  up,  we  were  treated 
to  a  bountiful  lunch  and  then  to  a  jolly  social  time,  not  soon  to 
be  forgotten.  We  were  allowed  to  linger  into  the  small  hours, 
probably  on  account  of  the  good  work  done. 

In  passing,  I  cannot  help  remarking  that  this  was  more  than 
a  pleasant  event  to  the  boys  and  girls  for  an  evening;  it  was  an 


68     MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

important  event  for  the  colleges  and  especially  to  M.  A.  C, 
situated  as  it  was  three  and  a  half  miles  from  Lansing  in  a 
sparsely  settled  neighborhood.  There  were  no  seniors,  juniors, 
or  sophomores  to  introduce  the  new  comers.  For  a  year  and 
a  half  about  one  hundred  boys  were  deprived,  except  at  the 
short  vacations,  of  the  companionship  of  mother,  sister,  or 
friends.  The  visits  of  the  boys  to  the  "Fem  Sem"  and  of  the 
girls  to  the  College  were  of  great  benefit.  I  feel  sure  that  memory 
serves  me  right  in  recalling  the  improvement  in  personal  appear- 
ance, the  greater  attention  to  dress  and  address,  the  more 
frequent  care  of  rooms  and  of  the  college  premises,  and  an 
elevation  of  the  moral  tone.  It  was  the  assuming  of  a  normal 
condition  in  the  mingling  of  the  boys  and  girls,  with  mutual 
advantage  to  both. 

There  was  always  plenty  to  do  for  busy  heads  and  hands 
in  study,  reading,  farm  work,  the  care  of  rooms,  and  the  mending 
and  care  of  our  clothes.  Our  sports  were  mainly  of  the  country 
sort,  "one-"  and  "two-old-cat"  ball  games,  running,  hop-step- 
and-jump,  "pom-pom  pull-away,"  tag,  and  leapfrog.  Some 
of  them  were  not  very  dignified;  still  there  were  no  smashed 
noses,  cracked  heads,  maimed  limbs,  nor  any  killing. 

The  principal  event  of  general  interest,  and  of  special  interest 
to  those  taking  part,  was  a  public  exhibition  at  the  close  of  the 
term,  November  i6,  1859.  Nine  students  took  part,  besides 
a  quartet  which  sang.  The  exercises  were  similar  to  those  of 
the  better  class  of  district  schools,  and  consisted  of  original 
orations  and  essays,  interspersed  with  music.  The  old  chapel 
was  crowded  to  its  fullest  capacity,  the  larger  portion  of  the 
audience  coming  out  from  Lansing. 

The  College  was  a  typical  Michigan  pioneer  in  starting  in 
the  woods,  in  opening  up  roads,  in  logging  and  burning  green 
timber,  much  of  it  in  the  wet  season  of  the  year,  in  the  pulling 
of  green  stumps,  and  in  ditching  where  an  ax  was  as  important 
as  the  spade  or  shovel.     It  was  hard  work  for  the  boys  and 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  69 

expensive  for  the  College.  I  recall  one  large  oak  stump  with 
a  large  tap  root  and  a  mass  of  others  needed  to  sustain  the  tall 
sturdy  tree,  cut  from  it.  It  was  only  a  few  feet  from  the  front 
door  of  the  boarding-hall.  Digging  away  the  dirt  and  cutting 
off  the  roots  required  about  ten  days'  work.  Then  it  took  the 
stump  machine  to  roll  it  out  and  two  yoke  of  oxen  and  four 
span  of  horses  a  half-day  to  draw  it  to  the  river  bank  near  the 
president's  house,  costing  about  $20. 

I  have  also  a  distinct  recollection  of  some  of  the  ditches. 
One  between  College  and  Abbot  was  in  places  one  and  two  feet 
deeper  than  the  height  of  the  boys.  The  dripping  from  the  dirt 
thrown  out  and  the  spatter  of  the  water  from  the  chopping  of 
the  roots  made  the  boys  look  as  though  they  had  taken  a  mud 
bath. 

The  administration  was  frequently  criticized  for  this  exten- 
sive work,  but  the  legislature  which  fixed  the  limit  of  the  location 
of  the  College  and  those  who  selected  the  site  should  share  the 
responsibility. 

I  have  imperfectly  and  hurriedly  mentioned  a  few  of  the 
happenings  of  the  six  college  terms  ending  November,  1859,  and 
can  now  simply  add  that  about  two  hundred  acres  had  been 
cleared,  four  residences,  a  barn,  and  a  small  toolhouse  had  been 
erected,  the  lots  well  fenced  and  in  condition  to  produce  good 
crops,  and  a  creditable  garden  and  a  greenhouse  were  well 
started.  Better  than  all  this,  I  believe  the  boys  generally  had 
reached  that  point  where  they  appreciated  that  the  work  helped 
pay  their  way,  gain  health  and  vigor,  and  assist  rather  than 
hinder  their  studies. 

I  mentioned  the  dearth  of  female  society  during  most  of  the 
terms  until  partially  suppUed  by  the  girls  of  the  '*Fem  Sem." 
I  would  not  have  it  understood  nor  leave  it  to  be  inferred  that 
the  wives  of  the  officers  were  not  thoughtful  and  ready  with 
kindly  assistance;  but  they  lived  in  Lansing  until  the  latter 
part  of  the  period  covered  and  so  could  do  little.     I  am  sure 


70  MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

those  at  the  College,  when  the  steward  and  all  his  help  left  and 
the  boys  for  a  considerable  time  did  the  housework,  recall  how 
Mrs.  WiUiams  came  daily  to  the  College  and  gave  generously 
of  her  time  to  assist  us.  Nor  did  we  forget  the  many  acts  of 
kindness  rendered  by  Mrs.  Shearer  who  naturally  left  with  her 
husband.  For  her  motherly  care  and  numerous  helpful  services 
in  previous  terms  she  will  ever  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance. 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  EARLY  FACULTY 


ALBERT  JOHN  COOK,  1862 


Brothers  and  Sisters,  Alumni  and  Alumnae,  and  Friends  All: 

I  come  with  you  to  bring  my  tribute  of  respect,  admiration, 
and  love  for  our  cherished  Mother,  under  peculiar  difficulties. 
When  the  summons  came  to  leave  duty  and  join  in  the  glad 
festivities,  I  thought  it  would  be  quite  impossible.  But  when 
the  invitation  came  to  speak  for  the  men  who  planted  this 
institution,  men  who  seemed  inspired  in  thought  and  purpose, 
so  well  did  they  build;  men  who  worked  with  a  Titan's  energy; 
how  could  I  say  "No,"  though  obstacles,  high  as  Olympus, 
pushed  themselves  between  me  and  this  beloved  place  ?  Besides, 
no  other  one  living  knew  all  the  men  who  wrought  so  admirably 
to  lay  the  foundations  of  this  splendid  institution,  who  though 
they  must  grope  in  unknown  fields,  yet  varied  not  from  the 
course  to  the  stars. 

The  late  James  A.  Garfield  spoke  wisely  in  his  memorable 
eulogy  of  President  Mark  Hopkins.  Yet  forsooth,  unless  the 
log  were  very  short,  there  were  better  no  log  at  all.  Not  even 
a  log  held  the  early  professors  of  this  CoUege  away  from  those 
first  fortunate  students.  Indeed,  it  was  the  glory  of  the  old 
Michigan  Agricultural  College  that  teacher  and  student  were  in 
closest  touch.  We  old  boys  were  ever  welcome  to  closest  inti- 
macy with  Williams,  Abbot,  Tracy,  Thurber,  and  Miles,  and 
we  shall  never  fully  appreciate  the  value  of  the  inspiration  that 
came  to  us  from  such  helpful  and  wholesome  association.  A 
college  is  just  what  its  teaching  force — its  faculty — gives  out 
of  energy,  scholarship,  and  character.  Were  there  ever  teachers 
of  more  sterHng  stuff,  more  keenly  alive  to  duty,  than  was  that 
fine  galaxy  of  men  who  so  eagerly  opened  to  us  the  pages  of 

71 


72    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

science,  art,  and  literature  ?  Scholarship  is  what  most  gilds  a 
coUege.  No  college  ranks  high,  unless  scholarship  is  its  watch- 
word, ever  kept  at  the  forefront.  What  an  example  of  scholar- 
ship we  had  in  the  pedagogical  founders  of  this  institution! 
No  wonder  that  with  such  examples  of  scholarship  as  that  of 
Williams  and  Abbot  and  their  colleagues,  the  students  were 
stimulated  to  keenest  mental  effort ! 

But  the  greatest  glory  of  any  college  are  such  examples 
of  noble  living  that  the  students  will  most  live,  and  so  "will  think 
most,  feel  the  noblest,  and  act  the  best."  Who  that  were  here 
in  those  early  days,  and  were  touched  by  the  impress  of  Dr. 
Abbot's  sweet,  true,  loving  spirit,  can  ever  think  of  that  life 
and  influence,  without  being  ennobled,  even  though  so  many 
years  separate  us  from  those  glad  hours  ?  This  College  was 
well  planned  from  its  very  inception;  but  what  would  planning 
avail,  had  we  not  had  devotion  to  scholarship,  purity  of  life, 
and  keenness  of  conscience  ? 

We  have  all  reahzed  how  discouragingly  short  those  golden 
years  of  study  were !  Have  you  not  marveled  that  so  many  of 
our  men  took  positions  side  by  side  with  men  whose  opportuni- 
ties had  been  of  much  broader  range,  and  yet  that  our  men  were 
often  in  the  lead  ?  Two  things  the  great  college  must  needs 
do:  it  must  teach  its  students  how  to  grasp  truth — to  acquire 
knowledge  rapidly ;  it  must  also  inspire  in  its  students  a  genuine 
love  for  study,  which  shall  be  an  unquenchable  passion.  When 
it  has  done  this,  it  may  send  its  students  forth,  and  they  are 
potentially  equipped.  I  believe  this  College  has  been  peculiarly 
happy,  through  its  scholarly  men,  in  achieving  these  results. 

Nor  were  our  professors  without  able  support.  Bright, 
eager,  responsive  students  did  much  to  give  impetus  to  mental 
"dig"  in  those  days,  when  educational  history  was  in  process  of 
making.  Such  men  as  Prentiss  and  Dickey  and  Clute  and 
Preston  and  hosts  more  like  them  were  as  stimulating  to  our 
strenuous  teachers  as  were  the  teachers  inspiring  to  the  pupils. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  73 

Yes  indeed,  our  professors  had  splendid  timber  to  fashion,  and 
less  wonder  is  it  that  their  strokes  were  heavy  and  true. 

PRESIDENT  JOSEPH   R,    WILLIAMS 

This  CoUege  was  peculiarly  happy  in  its  first  president.  He 
was  a  man  of  fine  physique,  pleasing  presence,  keen,  active 
intellect,  and  possessed  of  a  ready  humor,  that  made  him  the 
ever-welcome  companion  of  the  student.  He  was  also  a  man 
of  broad,  tolerant  views,  and  were  he  aUve  today,  he  would 
keenly  appreciate  the  proposition  of  a  "square  deal."  The 
pecuhar  ideas  which  dominated  in  the  early  history  of  the 
College,  whose  wisdom  was  affirmed  by  results,  originated 
largely  with  President  Williams.  When  we  remember  that 
this  was  the  pioneer  agricultural  college  and  that  he  was  emphati- 
cally a  pioneer,  blazing  a  path  in  an  entirely  unexplored  realm, 
it  is  a  marvel  that  he  fashioned  so  wisely  and  well.  Moreover, 
he  had  no  experts,  as  we  have  now,  to  whom  he  might  turn  for 
aid,  in  guiding  this  new  enterprise  to  a  successful  issue.  His 
masterful  mind  was  well  illustrated  in  his  selection  of  the  men 
to  assist  him  in  the  new  experiment.  Mrs.  Williams  was  a 
real  colaborer,  and  the  home  of  the  first  president  was  a  bright 
spot  for  many  a  student  who  enjoyed  its  ever-open  hospitaHty, 
in  those  days  when  agricultural  college  was  parsed  in  the  singular 
number. 

PROFESSOR   CALVIN  TRACY 

Among  the  first  of  the  professors  whose  pleasure  it  was  to 
throw  fight  into  dark  places,  was  our  tall,  eager,  enthusiastic 
professor  of  mathematics,  Professor  Calvin  Tracy.  He  had 
written  books  that  had  won  high  praise.  His  health  was  poor, 
as  indigestion  was  his  constant  companion.  He  told  me  more 
than  once  that  he  did  not  know  what  it  was  to  feel  well,  and  yet 
how  ready  and  cheerful  he  was  to  help  us  over  hard  places! 
He  was  not  only  a  close  student  but  he  was  so  transparently 


74  MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

true  that  his  character  rooted  in  the  hearts  and  lives  of  his 
young  companions,  so  that  as  they  went  forth,  they  had  a  firm 
grip  on  the  best  things  of  Hfe.  Such  genuinely  Christian  char- 
acter as  guided  the  life  of  Professor  Tracy  never  fails  or  ceases 
to  influence  every  life  that  it  touches,  to  higher  thought  and 
endeavor.  It  was  jocosely  remarked  that  "Professor  Tracy 
loved  the  truly  good  boys  and  the  'digs;'"  with  his  frail  health 
and  love  for  good  scholarship,  one  can  easily  imagine  him 
possessed  of  such  prejudice.  Can  anyone  who  participated  in 
those  memorable  geometry  contests  ever  forget  the  ecstatic 
pride  of  our  teacher,  as  the  rapid,  accurate  work  was  reeled 
off  as  by  a  whirlwind  ?  No  one  can  know  of  Professor  Tracy's 
life  and  thorough,  earnest  work,  and  not  ascribe  to  him  a  large 
place  in  giving  to  the  College  its  trend  and  temper. 

PROFESSOR   LOUIS   R.    FISK 

Professor  L.  R.  Fisk  was  one  of  that  first  faculty.  He  was 
a  tall  man  with  pleasing  manner,  and  was  ever  gracious  to  all 
who  came  to  him  for  consultation  and  advice.  After  the  resig- 
nation of  President  Williams,  Professor  Fisk  was  acting  presi- 
dent, until  President  Abbot  was  called  to  the  presidency  of  the 
College.  Professor  Fisk  was  not  so  scholarly  nor  so  thorough 
and  accurate  a  teacher  as  were  some  of  his  colleagues,  yet  he 
was  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  College,  and  did  much  in 
those  early  first  days  to  aid  in  placing  the  College  on  a  perma- 
nent foundation  and  to  create  a  loyal  student  body. 

PRESIDENT    THEOPHILUS    C.    ABBOT 

Dr.  T.  C.  Abbot  was  not  at  the  College  at  its  opening,  in  1857, 
but  he  came  soon  and  remained,  honored  and  loved  by  all,  until 
he  was  called  to  a  higher  realm  of  glory  and  usefulness.  No 
one  ever  connected  with  this  College  did  more  to  inspire  sound 
scholarship,  to  exalt  manhood,  to  develop  in  the  students  the 
very  best  of  endeavor  and  accomplishment,  than  our  revered 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  75 

Professor  Abbot.  "His  life  was  gentle,  and  the  elements  were 
so  mixed  in  him,  that  nature  might  stand  forth  and  say  to  all 
the  world,  This  was  a  man!"  Why  did  President  Abbot  have 
the  entire  confidence  and  reverence  of  the  student  body  to  a 
greater  degree  than  I  have  known  in  any  other,  in  all  my  college 
experience  ?  He  was  a  great  student,  and  never  appeared 
before  his  classes  except  when  he  was  master  of  the  subject  he 
was  to  present.  His  deep,  strong,  but  quiet  enthusiasm,  tem- 
pered by  modesty  and  simplicity,  inspired  his  students,  and  I 
often  heard  them  say:  "I  would  rather  flunk  in  all  my  other 
classes  than  in  President  Abbot's."  There  was  no  shadow  of 
pretense  in  his  mental  make-up,  and  he  was  a  bold  student  who 
would  ever  venture  to  palm  off  anything  that  was  not  genuine  in 
President  Abbot's  lecture-room.  How  fondly  he  touched  his 
precious  books!  To  see  his  reverent  handling  of  books  made 
us  all  love  books  the  more.  How  free  his  great  library  was  to 
all  of  us!  How  doubly  careful  were  we  that  no  spot  or  stain 
should  mar  those  sacred  volumes  while  in  our  care  and  keeping ! 
Busy  as  was  his  Hfe,  whoever  remembers  the  time  when  he  would 
not  eagerly  take  an  hour  if  he  could  Hf  t  any  of  us  over  our  troubles 
and  difficulties?  His  quick,  unselfish  love  for  us  all  left  no 
room  for  question,  and  the  dullest,  most  heedless  student  among 
us  knew  that  Dr.  Abbot  was  his  certain  friend.  Thus  he 
proved  to  us  "what  is  the  greatest  thing  in  the  world." 

How  Tennyson,  and  Milton,  and  greatest  of  all,  Shakespeare, 
took  on  new  Hfe  as  he  opened  their  treasures  to  our  dazed  appre- 
ciation. Lycidas  became  a  gem  which  we  have  always  treasured, 
since  he  revealed  its  rare  pohsh.  Macbeth,  Hamlet,  King  Lear, 
and  the  Merchant  of  Venice  were  all  transformed  as  he  brought 
out  the  rare  beauties  and  the  deeper  philosophies  of  those  great 
dramas.  Rhetoric  and  logic  and  English  Hterature  took  hard 
study;  yet  as  he  flooded  these  themes  with  light,  they  became 
fascinating  to  us,  and  we  wished  the  recitation  hour  longer  and 
the  time  for  study  not  so  short.     To  have  known  President  Abbot 


76    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

as  a  teacher,  and  to  have  enjoyed  his  masterful  lectures,  pre- 
sented with  a  splendid  diction  and  rare  finish,  explain  the  fact 
that  highest  ideals  in  culture  and  life  were  at  the  very  first  a 
treasured  part  of  the  equipment  of  this  institution.  The  cause 
of  agricultural  education  owes  a  great  debt  to  this  College,  and 
to  no  one  man  more  than  to  Dr.  Abbot. 

As  can  truly  be  said  of  President  Abbot,  so  we  can  say  with 
equal  truth  of  Mrs.  Abbot,  "None  knew  her  but  to  love  her, 
none  named  her  but  to  praise."  She  was  the  true  wife,  cultured, 
bright,  scintillating;  she  made  their  home  the  dearest  place  on 
the  campus.  It  was  a  very  Mecca  to  us  students,  and  ever  held 
its  hospitable  arms  wide  open  to  give  glad  welcome  to  us  and 
our  friends.  How  far  I  am  from  being  alone  in  my  feeling  that 
I  owe  an  immeasurable  debt  of  gratitude  to  President  and  Mrs. 
Abbot! 

He  was  the  ideal  college  president,  great  enough  to  consult 
with  and  listen  to  his  faculty  and  ever  to  keep  the  respect  and 
confidence  of  his  board.  Such  a  president  always  commands 
a  loyal  student  support,  and  his  influence  will  ever  be  in  the 
ascendency.  Until  disease  laid  its  heavy  hand  upon  him,  Dr. 
Abbot  was  a  tremendous  power  in  the  College,  and  better,  a 
power  that  always  made  for  righteousness. 

DR.   MANLY   MILES 

Dr.  M.  Miles,  though  not  in  the  faculty  at  the  opening  of 
the  CoUege,  came  very  soon,  and  for  twenty  years  was  a  colossal 
force  in  molding  its  character  and  steering  its  course.  Dr.  Miles 
was  a  born  scientist,  a  hard  student,  a  close,  accurate  observer, 
and  he  loved  to  unearth  truth  as  he  loved  nothing  else.  He  made 
the  truths  of  physiology  and  zoology  fairly  glow  with  interest. 
It  was  pleasure  to  give  hardest  effort  to  master  his  subjects. 
We  knew  that  he  burned  the  midnight  oil,  and  the  perfection 
of  his  work  won  the  respect  which  every  good  teacher  must 
command  from  his  pupils.     Laziness  and  good  teaching  are 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  77 

never  bed-fellows.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  there  was  not 
a  lazy  hair  in  the  capillary  envelope  of  our  beloved  professor  of 
agriculture.  When  he  commenced  to  teach  us  entomology, 
there  were  no  suitable  textbooks,  but  what  cared  he  ?  Like 
Agassiz,  whom  he  so  much  admired,  he  taught  us  to  study  the 
things  of  nature  and  not  what  others  had  said  of  them.  His 
enthusiasm  kindled  a  quick  flame  in  the  minds  of  his  students; 
and  how  he  loved  to  dig  out  the  hidden  truths  of  agriculture ;  and 
what  a  superb  course  he  built  up  in  that  branch !  Next  to  Dr. 
Abbot,  and  I  am  sure  that  Dr.  Miles  would  wish  me  to  make 
this  exception,  were  he  with  us  today,  he  did  more  than  any 
other  of  that  early  staff,  to  direct  this  College  rightly.  It  was 
a  sorry  day  for  this  institution,  when  the  governor  demanded 
his  resignation.  If  "dirt  is  matter  out  of  place,"  then  a  short 
word  describes  that  governor.  What  Agassiz  was  to  natural 
science  development  and  teaching  in  this  country,  so  was  Dr. 
Miles  to  the  development  of  agriculture  and  agricultural  instruc- 
tion. Dr.  Miles's  versatiHty  was  surprising.  He  had  rare 
genius  in  all  lines  of  mechanical  invention,  and  his  readiness  of 
resource  added  to  his  power  over  his  students.  This  College, 
and  agricultural  education  as  weU,  must  never  forget  how 
much  that  is  best  in  their  fabric  came  from  the  hard  work  and 
rare  genius  of  Dr.  Manly  Miles. 

DR.    GEORGE   THURBER 

Dr.  Thurber  was  very  much  Uke  Dr.  Miles  in  many  ways. 
He  was  here  but  two  or  three  years,  and  yet  his  hard  work  and 
marked  abihty  in  the  science  which  he  loved  so  well,  and  his 
vivacious  enthusiasm  made  him  a  great  favorite  among  all  the 
students.  The  exceeding  pleasure  that  came  to  me  in  the 
multitudinous  walks  with  Dr.  Thurber,  and  the  love  of  natural 
science  that  came  as  he  opened  the  great  book  of  Nature  in  his 
marvelous  fashion,  awaked  in  me  a  loving  appreciation  that 
has  deepened  with  the  years.     Dr.  Thurber's  government  work 


78  MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

had  given  him  rich  opportunity  to  solve  Nature's  problems, 
and  he  improved  them  to  the  utmost.  The  students  thought  of 
Dr.  Thurber  as  a  walking  encyclopaedia,  and  indeed  he  deserved 
the  title.  He  was  quick  with  advice  and  information  upon 
almost  every  subject;  and  his  perpetual  fund  of  wholesome 
humor  made  him  the  center  of  attraction  in  every  social  gather- 
ing. His  telling  service  in  the  horticultural  department,  and 
his  exceptional  ability  to  make  science  clear  and  fascinating, 
constituted  seed  of  the  right  kind,  when  agricultural  education 
was  first  taking  root.  Except  for  his  one  lamentable  faiUng, 
what  a  power  for  good  he  might  have  become,  in  this  first  agri- 
cultural college !  I  have  often  wished  that  he  might  have  had 
in  boyhood  and  youth  such  influence  and  companionship  as 
would  have  come  with  association  with  one  like  Dr.  Abbot. 
How  different  might  have  been  his  life,  and  how  he  might  have 
enriched  the  science  department  of  this  College  through  his 
rare  ability  and  genius ! 

PROFESSOR  ALBERT  N.  PRENTISS 

Professor  A.  N.  Prentiss  was  one  of  the  first  two  alumni 
called  to  the  faculty  of  this  institution.  My  intimate  association 
with  him,  and  friendship  for  four  years  of  college  life,  and  my 
equally  pleasant  relation  with  him  as  a  fellow-teacher,  make  it 
difficult  to  speak  dispassionately  regarding  his  character  and 
work.  Of  all  my  college  associates,  next  to  Dr.  Abbot,  he  did 
most  for  me.  He  was  clean,  true,  able,  industrious,  and  of  that 
gracious  make-up,  that  would  never  barter  character  for  aught 
that  fife  or  man  could  offer.  In  the  seven  years  that  he  taught 
here,  he  builded  up  the  department  of  botany  and  horticulture 
in  marvelous  fashion.  How  little  he  had  to  help  him,  and  yet 
how  the  students  loved  him  and  his  work !  His  dignity  of  bearing 
and  purity  of  life  were  a  constant  inspiration  to  the  entire  student 
body.  Cornell  took  a  gem  from  us,  when  she  captured  Professor 
Prentiss.     This  College  has  made  mistakes;    I  think  the  first 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  79 

was  when  she  permitted  Cornell  to  swoop  down  and  rob  us  of 
the  invaluable  services  of  Professor  A,  N.  Prentiss. 

PRESIDENT   EDWIN  WILLETS 

Many  of  you  knew  Edwin  Willets  as  well  as  did  I ;  but  I  am 
sure  that  none  of  you  loved  him  more.  He  was  a  man  of  broad 
outlook.  He  had  a  great  heart  and  every  student  knew  that 
President  Willets  was  a  friend  that  could  be  counted  on.  We 
all  had  reason  for  sadness,  when  it  was  announced  that  President 
Willets  had  been  called  higher,  and  had  accepted.  With  Presi- 
dent Willets  came  a  change  in  the  management  of  the  College. 
I  think  it  was  a  sad  mistake,  not  to  say  a  disastrous  one.  Before 
this,  changes  in  internal  management  were  suggested  and  all 
new  appointments  to  the  faculty  were  nominated  by  the  presi- 
dent, but  only  after  fullest  conference  with  and  approval  of  the 
faculty.  The  board  only  confirmed.  No  college  board  ought 
ever  to  do  more.  With  President  Willets  came  a  lamentable 
change ;  I  feel  sure  without  his  desire.  Additions  to  the  faculty 
and  startling  changes  in  the  internal  management  were  made, 
with  no  consultation  at  all  with  the  faculty,  and  at  times,  I 
think,  without  the  knowledge  of  the  president.  I  know  not  if 
this  plan  still  prevails,  but  if  it  does,  the  College  is  laboring  under 
a  serious  handicap,  and  one  that  the  alumni  should  undertake 
at  once  to  remove. 

PRESIDENT   OSCAR  CLUTE 

President  Clute  was  the  other  of  the  first  two  alumni  that 
served  on  the  faculty.  He  was  also  a  loved  classmate.  He 
was  scholarly  in  his  habits,  and  clean  and  true  in  his  life.  I  need 
not  speak  to  you  of  his  quick  response  to  duty's  call.  I  must, 
however,  give  a  page  or  two  from  the  last  chapter  of  his  Hfe. 
He  lived  near  me,  and  I  saw  him  often.  He  suffered  great  pain, 
and  led  a  lonely  life.  At  the  last,  he  was  in  a  great  room  at  the 
Soldier's  Home,  and  so  knew  no  privacy  or  retirement.     To  one 


8o  MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

of  his  peculiarly  sensitive  nature,  this  must  have  been  a  severe 
trial.  Yet  he  made  no  murmur,  and  never  was  he  more  loved 
and  respected  by  those  closest  to  him  than  in  those  last  sad 
days  when  pain  and  soHtude  laid  such  heavy  hands  upon  him. 
He  exempHfies  in  the  last  hours  how  real  Christian  character 
may  glorify  life,  even  in  the  "dark  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death." 

PROFESSOR  C.   L.    INGERSOLL 

We  were  proud  of  Professor  Ingersoll,  His  work  here  was 
excellent.  Subsequently,  as  a  professor  in  a  prominent  univer- 
sity, and  as  president  of  one  of  our  prominent  agricultural 
colleges,  he  added  new  laurels  to  his  fame.  With  us,  he  made  his 
lectures  so  virile  that  though  his  students  must  work  hard,  yet 
they  loved  and  respected  their  teacher,  and  were  full  of  regrets, 
when  another  institution,  that  placed  a  higher  value  on  his 
services,  took  him  away.  I  have  spoken  of  two  mistakes  made 
by  this  College,  in  bygone  years;  one  was  emphasized  when 
such  men  as  Ingersoll,  Garfield,  Davenport,  Durand,  and 
Bailey  were  suffered  to  leave  us.  Think  what  prestige  has 
come  to  Champaign,  from  the  admirable  work  of  Davenport! 
And  what  glory  limited  not  by  country's  shores  has  come  to 
Cornell,  from  the  splendid  work  of  Bailey !  All  of  this  prestige 
should  have  come  to  their  own  Alma  Mater,  and  would,  had 
the  value  and  the  rarity  of  great  teachers  been  appreciated. 
The  faculty  makes  the  college.  Two  things  are  of  such  incom- 
parable importance,  that  they  must  be  insisted  upon:  the 
greatest  pains  must  be  taken  in  securing  new  men,  and  the 
valuable  knowledge  of  the  faculty  must  be  utiUzed  to  the  utmost 
in  making  selections.  We  must  have  high  scholarship,  aptness 
to  teach,  and  most  important  of  all,  men  of  transcendent  char- 
acter. The  other  point  is  just  as  important:  when  the  right 
man  is  secured,  hold  to  him  with  a  relentless  grip.  Such  a 
course  will  push  any  college  into  the  ascendency. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  8l 

E.  M.  PRESTON  AND  S.  M.  MILLARD 

I  cannot  forbear  to  give  meed  of  loving  appreciation  of  two 
of  our  alumni.  Preston  and  Millard  were  samples  of  scores 
of  the  old-time  boys :  clean  and  spotless  in  their  lives,  possessed 
of  a  manly  chivalry  that  was  sweet  and  wholesome  here,  and 
that  changed  not  as  they  stepped  forth  from  college  halls — men 
who  set  a  pace,  in  that  nothing  was  permitted  to  crowd  between 
them  and  lessons  thoroughly  learned.  The  example  of  both 
was  ever  shouting,  "  Dig,"  in  the  ears  of  all  of  us  students.  Is  it 
any  wonder  that  both  became  marked  men  in  the  states  they 
honored  by  citizenship?  Millard  was  for  years  the  president 
of  the  regents  of  the  University  of  lUinois,  and  Preston  has  his 
name  perpetuated  in  one  of  the  excellent  institutions  of  Cali- 
fornia. 

As  we  come  back  to  the  dear  old  College,  we  are  happy  and 
proud  to  note  the  great  growth  and  advancement  that  she  has 
made;  we  deHght  in  the  splendid  men  that  have  gone  forth  to 
true  manly  lives.  And  may  we  not  drop  tears  in  grateful  memory 
of  the  men,  who  from  the  first  gave  of  the  best  in  their  lives,  that 
this  College  might  be  an  example  of  highest  excellence  and  that 
the  alumni  might  honor  their  teachers,  and  their  Alma  Mater, 
by  doing  nobly  their  part  in  the  world's  work  ? 


HOW  THEY  TAUGHT  IN  THE  EARLY  DAYS 


CHARLES  EDWIN  BESSEY,   1869 


Picture  these  grounds  as  they  were  forty  years  ago,  with  one 
college  building  (now,  I  think,  called  Williams  Hall,  but  in 
those  days  merely  "  the  College  Building"),  one  small  dormitory, 
four  dwellings  for  professors,  a  barn,  a  toolhouse,  and  a  shed  for 
sheep;  the  grounds  mostly  ungraded,  the  surrounding  fields 
undrained  and  still  retaining  many  of  the  giant  stumps  left  when 
the  recent  forest  was  cut  away.  About  the  College  Building 
was  a  Uttle  spot  of  graded  bluegrass  lawn,  with  a  few  gravel 
walks  bordered  with  flower-beds  and  shrubbery.  Here  had 
been  retained  some  of  the  broad,  spreading  oaks  of  the  primeval 
forest  to  give  dignity  to  the  landscape.  North  and  south  and 
east  and  west,  the  nearby  forests  still  loomed,  cool  and  shadowy, 
filled  with  wild  shrubs  and  countless  wild  flowers.  And  through 
the  grounds  ran  the  Red  Cedar  River,  with  its  overhanging 
trees,  its  single  wooden  bridge,  and  many  inviting  swimming- 
pools.  It  is  a  quiet,  rural  picture  which  comes  back  in  memory 
as  I  think  of  the  College  of  the  days  when  I  knew  it  best. 

The  faculty  as  I  first  knew  it  consisted  of  six  men :  Abbot, 
our  beloved  president ;  Kedzie,  the  strong  and  sometimes  stern 
chemist;  Miles,  the  philosophical  naturalist;  Prentiss,  the 
polished  discipHnarian ;  Clute,  the  thoughtful  student;  and 
Fairchild,  the  mild-mannered  scholar,  now  aU  resting  in  their 
graves;  added  to  a  year  or  two  later  by  Cook,  the  genial  teacher, 
who  is  still  living.  There  was  one  assistant,  Daniels,  a  quiet, 
helpful  man  who  assisted  Dr.  Kedzie  in  the  laboratory  work  in 
chemistry.  These  men  gave  all  of  the  instruction  then  offered  in 
the  single  college  course  of  study.  The  College  Building  con- 
tained thirteen  rooms,  namely:   the  Chapel,  and  the  Chemical 

82 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  83 

Laboratory  on  the  first  floor;  two  recitation  rooms,  and  four 
office  rooms  on  the  second  floor;  and  the  Library,  Museum,  and 
three  recitation  rooms  (two  quite  small)  on  the  third  floor. 
The  Chapel  and  Museum  were  sometimes  used  for  recitations, 
so  that  there  were  seven  rooms  available  for  class  purposes— 
not  a  bad  showing  for  the  Httle  college  of  about  a  hundred 
students,  when  it  is  remembered  that  there  were  at  most  not 
more  than  four  recitations  each  hour,  and  only  six  professors  in 
all  to  hold  recitations.  In  fact,  but  four  rooms  in  addition  to 
the  Chapel  were  ordinarily  used  for  classes.  The  chemical 
classes  always  met  in  the  Chapel,  since  it  was  possible  to  bring 
apparatus  to  it  very  easily  from  the  laboratory  on  the  same  floor. 
The  classes  in  botany  met  in  a  small  room  at  the  southeast  corner 
of  the  third  floor.  The  other  rooms  were  common,  and  were 
used  by  classes  in  any  subjects.  All  of  the  regular  classrooms 
were  suppHed  with  blackboards  and  plain  wooden  chairs,  and 
these  constituted  the  "appHances"  of  that  day.  In  most  cases 
the  professors  had  neither  tables,  desks,  nor  cupboards.  Each 
professor  quite  Hterally  occupied  a  chair,  and  nothing  further. 

It  was  emphatically  the  period  of  the  textbook.  Some  of 
the  professors  gave  lectures,  but  in  every  subject  the  student 
always  had  his  textbook  as  the  basis  of  his  study,  and  daily 
recitations  were  the  rule.  We  learned  things  from  books,  and 
were  asked  to  repeat  them  orally  at  greater  or  less  length  to  our 
teachers.  We  were  not  asked  to  write  out  what  we  knew,  but 
were  required  to  stand  up  and  tell  it  under  the  keen  eye  of  the 
professor,  and  the  brutally  critical  attention  of  the  class.  In 
this  way  we  learned  to  think  on  our  feet,  and  I  have  always  felt 
that  much  has  been  lost  by  the  general  abandonment  of  the  old- 
time  recitation,  and  the  substitution  of  the  written  quiz  and 
examination. 

Chemistry,  even  at  that  early  day,  was  taught  by  practical 
work  in  the  laboratory.  We  had  one  lecture  or  recitation  a  day, 
and  in  addition  two  hours  daily  of  laboratory  work.     In  the 


84  MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

lecture  the  professor  accompanied  his  presentation  of  the  subject 
by  carefully  planned  demonstration  experiments,  greatly  to  our 
edification,  and  occasionally  to  our  amusement.  In  the  labora- 
tory we  plunged  at  once  into  the  qualitative  analysis  of  unknown 
substances.  We  learned  to  handle  chemicals  and  apparatus 
by  the  very  simple  plan  of  actually  handling  them  ourselves. 
Of  course  we  broke  apparatus,  and  blew  up  things  rather  often, 
but  finally  we  learned  to  be  careful,  and  no  one  was  kiUed  or 
seriously  hurt  in  the  process. 

In  marked  contrast  to  chemistry,  was  the  presentation  of 
physics  which  was  wholly  a  textbook  study.  We  used  01m- 
stead's  Natural  Philosophy,  reciting  and  demonstrating  (on 
the  blackboard)  from  its  pages,  but  neither  making  experiments 
ourselves  nor  seeing  any  made  by  the  professor. 

Surveying  was  made  a  living  subject  for  us  by  the  addition 
to  a  stiff  textbook  of  a  considerable  amount  of  field-work,  with 
compass,  transit,  and  level,  and  the  accurate  plotting  of  results. 

Our  geology  was  still  a  textbook  subject  only.  There  was 
no  thought  of  the  use  of  specimens  of  rocks  or  fossils  by  the 
class,  nor  was  there  any  required  field-work  in  connection  with 
the  subject.  Yet  there  were  in  the  Museum  on  the  third  floor 
many  such  specimens.  The  idea  of  their  use  by  the  students 
had  not  yet  taken  hold  of  teachers  in  American  colleges.  The 
Museum  contained  specimens  to  be  looked  at  through  the  glass 
doors  of  the  cases  by  the  public  and  occasionally  by  the  students, 
but  such  specimens  were  for  preservation,  not  for  handhng. 

In  zoology  we  used  a  textbook,  but  its  required  use  was  small, 
indeed.  The  professor  (Dr.  Miles)  loved  to  talk  to  us,  and  he 
led  us  in  his  talks  far  deeper  into  the  subject  than  did  any 
textbook  of  that  period.  Thus  while  we  got  less  of  detail,  we 
were  given  broader  views  and  larger  generahzations  than  would 
have  been  possible  by  the  textbook  method.  We  always  had 
before  us  the  skeleton  of  a  cow  or  some  other  creature,  and  to 
it  the  lecturer  recurred  for  illustration  times  without  number, 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  85 

no  doubt  greatly  to  our  benefit.  Still  the  fact  that  we  made  no 
use  of  the  mounted  animals  in  the  museum  shows  that  the  idea 
of  illustrating  the  subject  by  specimens  had  not  yet  been  adopted 
in  zoology,  to  say  nothing  of  the  laboratory  idea,  of  which 
apparently  no  one  had  yet  thought. 

Even  the  subject  of  entomology  was  mainly  a  textbook  study. 
We  memorized  so  many  pages  and  repeated  them  as  nearly  as 
possible  verbatim.  Here  we  looked  at  specimens  brought  to 
the  class.  There  was  also  some  desultory  collecting  of  speci- 
mens, and  now  and  then  a  student  was  seen  frantically  pawing 
the  air  with  a  "bug-net,"  in  his  efforts  to  capture  some  beetle, 
bug,  or  butterfly.  But  we  were  under  no  supervision  as  to 
any  field-work  we  might  undertake.  A  few  of  us  were  fortunate 
enough  to  be  employed  in  arranging  and  labeling  the  college 
collections  under  the  supervision  of  the  professor,  and  here  we 
learned  much  about  insects,  their  appearance,  classification, 
and  the  practical  work  of  making  a  scientific  collection.  It 
was  laboratory  work,  but  none  of  us  recognized  it,  nor  did  we 
ever  use  the  word  "laboratory"  in  connection  with  it. 

In  my  own  science  of  botany  the  work  was  then  mainly  con- 
fined to  daily  recitations  from  a  textbook,  accompanied  later 
by  dissections  and  "analyses"  of  plants  in  the  classroom,  under 
the  direction  of  the  professor.  We  had  a  few  simple  dissecting 
microscopes  which  we  used  in  these  exercises.  Here  was  no 
doubt  the  germ  of  the  laboratory  idea  as  appHed  to  botany. 
But  the  purpose  was  not  so  much  to  find  out  the  structure  of  the 
plant  as  to  find  its  name.  When  that  was  accomplished  we 
stopped  further  study  of  the  plant.  The  name  was  the  impor- 
tant thing  and  when  it  was  found  there  was  nothing  more  to  be 
done,  unless  perhaps  to  check  it  off  on  the  margin  of  the  manual. 
In  pursuance  of  this  phase  of  botany  we  were  required  to  do  a 
good  deal  of  field-work.  We  wandered  over  the  fields,  through 
the  woods  and  swamps,  often  for  long  distances,  in  search  of 
plants  whose  names  we  found  out  and  duly  recorded.     Yet 


86     MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

our  work  was  neither  supervised  nor  corrected,  nor  were  our 
lists  of  species  submitted  as  a  part  of  our  work.  We  were  not 
required  to  make  herbarium  specimens,  although  encouraged  to 
do  so,  and  some  of  us  did  make  herbaria  on  our  own  account. 

There  was  at  that  day  a  considerable  collection  of  plants 
known  as  the  "Cooley  Herbarium"  that  had  come  into  the 
possession  of  the  College,  and  fortunately  for  me,  it  was  in  need 
of  being  mounted  and  labeled,  and  it  fell  to  me  to  do  it.  This 
work  which  occupied  my  time  for  many  weeks  gave  me  most 
valuable  experience  in  a  department  of  the  subject  that  was 
not  taken  up  in  the  classroom. 

The  College  then  owned  an  immense  Ross  compound  micro- 
scope, which  we  used  to  see  standing  in  a  case  in  a  corner  of  the 
botanical  classroom.  It  was  never  taken  out  for  use  in  class, 
but  always  stood  there  as  a  challenge  to  us.  I  do  not  know 
what  anyone  else  did,  but  at  last  I  could  stand  it  no  longer,  and 
getting  permission  from  Professor  Prentiss,  who  gave  me  the 
key  to  the  case,  I  locked  myself  in  the  classroom,  and  taking  out 
the  ponderous  instrument,  looked  it  over,  studied  its  complex 
machinery,  and  made  myself  famiUar  with  its  structure  and  use. 
This  was  my  first  use  of  the  compound  microscope,  and  this 
was  all  the  practice  I  had  with  the  instrument  while  in  the 
CoUege.  It  was  not  much,  but  it  was  a  beginning,  and  it  enabled 
me  to  handle  the  next  instrument  which  came  into  my  hands 
when  a  teacher  myself,  and  to  this  extent  made  my  own  work 
more  successful. 

It  was  a  primitive  college,  and  the  teaching  of  the  sciences 
was  primitive.  We  may  smile  now  at  the  kind  of  instruction 
we  received  at  the  hands  of  the  professors  of  that  day,  but  it 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  science  teaching  was  rather  new  in 
all  colleges  at  that  time.  Sciences  were  not  well  taught  in  any 
of  them.  In  many  they  were  not  taught  at  all.  And  it  is  the 
glory  of  our  Alma  Mater  that  she  encouraged  the  study  of  these 
sciences.     Forty  years  ago  this  was  the  only  college  in  the  West 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  87 

in  which  one  could  study  all  of  the  great  sciences  in  any  manner, 
or  after  any  fashion  at  all.  And  it  is  greatly  to  her  credit  that, 
with  the  possible  exception  of  Harvard  University,  this  College 
then  gave  the  most  extended  and  thorough  course  in  botany  in 

this  country.  ...  , 

It  was  a  pioneer  in  science  teaching,  and  its  primitive  methods 
were  due  to  the  fact  that  nowhere  were  better  methods  known 
or  practiced.  Elsewhere  they  were  generally  still  more  primi- 
tive The  CoUege  stood  then  as  now  for  the  study  of  things,  as 
shown  especially  in  its  teaching  of  agriculture,  horticulture,  and 
stock  breeding.  In  so  far  as  possible  even  then  the  thing  rather 
than  the  book  was  studied.  The  College  was  instinctively,  though 
unconsciously,  moving  toward  the  modern  laboratory  method. 
It  led  the  way  toward  illustration  and  the  direct  study  of  things 
themselves,  and  gave  a  strong  impulse  in  aid  of  the  incommg  of 
the  laboratory  idea.  ,u       ^u 

That  the  professors  of  that  day  builded  better  than  they 
knew  is  no  doubt  true,  but  we  cannot  on  that  account  withhold 
from  them  our  praise  for  their  good  work,  nor  our  gratitude  for 
what  they  did  for  us.  No  alumnus  of  this  College  need  be 
ashamed  of  the  kind  of  work  done  in  the  early  days,  but  rather 
should  he  be  proud  that  his  Alma  Mater,  though  so  young  among 
the  colleges  of  that  time,  was  among  the  first  to  adopt  modern 
methods  of  teaching  and  study. 


THE  COLLEGE  IN  1870 


WILLIAM  JAMES  BEAL 


Early  in  May,  1870, 1  made  my  first  visit  to  this  College,  then 
13  years  old,  to  teach  botany  during  the  summer.  As  a  con- 
tributor to  the  Prairie  Farmer  I  came  with  keen  interest  and 
wrote  out  my  first  impressions.  Lansing  was  a  town  of  6,000  to 
7,000,  in  the  midst  of  which  was  the  old  capitol  constructed  of 
wood.  There  was  but  one  railroad  passing  through  the  city 
from  Jackson  to  Saginaw,  and  that  was  of  primitive  style.  I 
secured  a  ride  to  the  College  with  a  farmer,  and  on  the  way  soon 
learned  that  many  farmers  within  twenty  miles  placed  a  low 
estimate  on  the  value  of  the  "state  farm,"  as  it  was  often  called 
at  that  time.  The  course  extended  over  clay  knolls  and  cordu- 
roy, the  poles  of  which  were  to  keep  the  wagon  wheels  from  get- 
ting deep  into  the  mire.  I  saw  how  it  was  that  President  Abbot 
rarely  rode  in  a  buggy  that  was  not  well  plastered  over  with  clay. 
We  were  welcomed  to  the  campus  by  driving  through  a  patent 
self-opening  gate — often  out  of  order. 

It  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  give  a  detailed  description  of  the 
campus.  Large  numbers  of  the  trees  of  the  oak  opening  were 
dotted  over  the  ground,  most  of  which  had  been  heavily  cut  back 
from  the  top  with  the  thought  that  it  would  improve  their  appear- 
ance. This  work  had  been  done  by  C.  E.  Hollister,  then  a 
student  and  later  a  member  of  the  first  class  to  graduate  in  186 1. 

At  the  right  of  the  main  gateway,  then  nearly  due  north  from 
College  Hall,  were  four  small  brick  dwellings  for  the  president 
and  three  professors.  The  bricks  for  these  and  the  two  halls 
were  manufactured  on  the  college  campus,  west  of  the  present 
armory.     Here'  is  old  College  Hall,  Williams  Hall  just  com- 

'  While  reading  this  paragraph  Dr.  Beal  pointed  to  various  locations  on 
a  large  map  of  the  campus  as  it  was  in  1870. — Editor. 

88 


y 


h-1  r 

K    o 

o  ^ 


or 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  89 

pleted,  the  old  Boarding  Hall  later  dubbed  "Saints'  Rest,"  for 
reasons  which  I  never  fully  appreciated.  Here  the  old  brick 
horse-barn,  there  the  farmhouse,  herdman's  house,  the  old  barn 
for  grain  and  cattle,  a  greenhouse  of  primitive  form,  and  the  barn 
for  use  of  the  horticultural  department.  There  is  the  town  line 
between  Lansing  and  Meridian.  What  is  that  zig-zag  Une  along 
the  road  ?  Do  you  not  recognize  a  drawing  of  a  rail  fence  which 
has  nearly  gone  out  of  fashion  ?  Names  of  the  faculty  here,  and 
there  the  list  of  buildings,  and  up  there  the  number  of  students 
in  different  classes;  and  on  this  chart  are  the  names  of  the  studies 
pursued. 

COURSE  OF  INSTRUCTION  IN  1870 

FRESHMAN  CLASS 


First  term 

Second  term 

Algebra 

Trigonometry 

Geometry 

Surveying 

History 

Practical  Agriculture 

Bookkeeping 

Geology 

SOPHOMORE  YEAR 

English  Literature 

Entomology 

Botany 

Analytical  Chemistry 

Elementary  Chemistry 

Botany 

Horticulture 

JUNIOR  YEAR 

Physics  Physics 

Agricultural  Chemistry  Meteorology 

Inductive  Logic  Rhetoric 

Animal  Physiology 

SENIOR  YEAR 

Zoology  Landscape  Gardening 

Practical  Agriculture  Civil  Engineering 

Mental  Philosophy  Moral  Philosophy 

Astronomy  Political  Economy 

French  French 

In  1870  the  income  of  the  College  was  less  than  $40,000,  the 
year  closing  with  a  deficit  of  $6,000. 


90    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

The  College  was  young,  poor,  and  small.  No  member  of  the 
faculty  had  a  chair  to  himself,  but  occupied  a  whole  settee.  For 
example,  the  professor  of  botany  also  taught  history,  some  Eng- 
lish, algebra,  and  civil  engineering.  The  students  took  break- 
fast a  little  after  six,  and  got  out  of  chapel  by  seven,  where  the 
president  called  the  roll.  Classes  extended  over  a  period  of  four 
hours,  all  closing  at  time  for  dinner.  In  the  afternoon  for  three 
hours  all  students  were  engaged  in  manual  labor.  Wliile  the 
classes  were  small  and  much  rough  work  to  be  done,  such  as 
ditching  and  chopping  wood,  it  was  possible  to  enforce  the  law 
regarding  manual  labor,  but  as  the  College  became  older,  the 
students  more  numerous,  and  foremen  insufficient,  the  manage- 
ment of  student  labor  was  very  burdensome  and  was  perplexing 
in  the  extreme.  Student  labor  was  paid  for  at  a  maximum  of 
seven  and  one-half  cents  an  hour,  and  very  little  of  it  was  in- 
structive. 

The  regular  system  of  hours  for  all  exercises  was  recognized 
by  horses  as  well  as  by  students.  For  example,  the  department 
of  horticulture  worked  an  old  black  stage  horse  called  "Old 
Prof.,"  which  always  started  for  the  shed  as  soon  as  the  after- 
noon bell  rang.  He  was  very  orderly,  soon  learning  to  back  the 
cart  into  a  certain  place  under  the  shed. 

The  rough  lane  in  place  of  the  present  one  extended  south 
across  the  river  ending  in  a  tamarack  swamp  known  as  "Num- 
ber 12,"  and  all  beyond  was  in  forest.  No  railroads  crossed  the 
farm  in  those  days. 

Fifty-nine  students  had  graduated,  of  whom  three  had  died. 
The  ten  women  students  selected  such  studies  as  suited  them 
from  the  only  course  offered  at  the  College,  viz.,  the  course  in 
agriculture.  Even  at  that  day.  President  Abbot  urged  that  some 
special  provisions  be  made  for  a  course  suited  to  women,  includ- 
ing household  economy. 

The  college  year  consisted  of  two  semesters,  beginning  late  in 
February  and  closing  with  commencement  in  November,  thus 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  9^ 

affording  an  opportunity  for  students  who  desired  it  to  teach  a 
district  school  in  winter.  As  will  be  seen,  the  entrance  to  the 
coUege  classes  was  easy  and  of  low  standing.  There  was  only 
one  laboratory,  and  that  was  for  chemistry  in  the  north  end  of 

College  Hall. 

In  1870  it  was  not  difficult  to  plan  a  course  of  study  for  an 
agricultural  coUege.     Except  some  points  gathered  from  man- 
ual labor,  which  were  not  numerous  nor  very  important,  the 
students  received,  all  told,  eight  weeks  of  daily  work  in  horti- 
culture and  ten  weeks  in  agricuhure,  and  these  topics  were 
chiefly  taught  by  the  slow  process  of  lectures.     There  were  few 
books  and  papers  to  aid  students  in  their  pursuit  of  agriculture. 
The  College  was  in  the  woods,  so  to  speak,  with  no  model  to 
follow.     Nowhere  in  this  broad  country  were  students  taught 
advanced  stock  judging,   stock  feeding,   the  examination  of 
dressed  meats,   soil  physics,  dairying,  plant  breeding,   plant 
histology,  ecology,  plant  pathology,  the  critical  study  of  grasses, 
weeds,  or  trees,  plant  physiology,  farm  economics,  the  growing 
of  forest  trees,  spraying  for  insects  and  fungus.     Bacteriology  as 
related  to  animals,  dairying,  soils,  and  plants  was  a  sealed  book. 
The  College  had  been  started  long  before  there  was  much 
demand  for  it  by  the  best  of  farmers.     This  was  due  to  the  per- 
sistence of  John  C.  Holmes,  then  secretary  of  the  State  Agri- 
cultural Society,   more   than  to  all  other  persons  combined. 
Inaugurated  under  such  conditions,  adverse  criticism  was  inevi- 
table.    Newspapers  gave  the  College  plenty  of  negative  or  left- 
hand  advertising.     For  many  years  the  only  advertisements 
paid  for  was  a  part  of  a  page  in  the  Michigan  Almanac.     As 
late  as  1870,  the  CoUege  had  Uttle  contact  with  farmers  by  way 
of  institutes  or  extension  correspondence. 

A  few  staunch  men  stood  nobly  by  the  College,  notable  among 
whom  was  Hon.  Jonathan  J.  Woodman,  afterward  master  of  the 
State  Grange  and  later  master  of  the  National  Grange.  From 
1869  to  187 1  he  was  speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives 


92  MICfflGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

and  admitted  that  the  College  was  not  what  it  should  be;  but 
that  was  no  reason  why  it  should  be  discontinued,  rather,  "it 
is  a  reason  why  we  should  hold  on,  rally  to  its  support,  doing 
the  best  we  can  to  help  make  it  better,  that  it  may  become  a 
credit  to  the  state,  the  nation,  and  the  whole  civilized  world." 
A  word  about  this  chart  on  the  wall,  to  which  Mr.  Monroe 
has  referred.  Six  inches  in  length  represents  a  year,  and  the 
width  indicates  the  number  of  students  in  each  year.  The 
additions  and  endowments  are  represented  on  the  upper  side; 
the  names  of  the  presidents  appear  in  the  middle  of  the  stream, 
sometimes  deep  and  often  turbulent.  Leading  events  are  named 
on  the  lower  edge  of  the  canvas.  The  widening  stream  repre- 
senting I, GOO  students,  on  which  appears  the  name  of  President 
Snyder,  is  not  the  delta  as  it  might  seem,  right  at  the  entrance  to 
a  great  sea,  but  is  believed  to  represent  this  College  fairly  enter- 
ing on  a  long  series  of  years  of  ever-increasing  prosperity  when 
the  students  shall  be  numbered  by  thousands. 


EARLY  MEMBERS  OF  THE  GOVERNING  BOARD 


CHARLES  W.  GARFIELD,  1870 


To  successfully  manage  an  educational  institution  which 
connects  itself  with  important  matters  of  statecraft  requires  the 
highest  type  of  public-spirited  citizenship.  To  perform  the  best 
work  in  this  capacity  a  man's  purview  must  exceed  the  range  of 
vision  which  is  Hmited  by  a  desire  to  serve  his  own  ambition. 
Men  of  this  type  are  not  so  plentiful  as  to  make  the  task  of  their 
selection  an  easy  one. 

In  any  special  type  of  education,  which  has  to  work  its  way 
into  popular  favor  by  the  development  of  results  which  appeal 
strongly  to  the  average  man  who  feels  it  his  right  and  privilege 
to  criticize,  there  are  special  difficulties  which  often  become  a 
menace  to  the  highest  grade  of  management.  When  this 
management  is  in  an  appointive  board  the  authority  which  is 
responsible  for  the  appointments  really  holds  the  reins  of  the 
institution.  In  our  own  state  the  governor  has  from  near  the 
beginning  of  the  Agricultural  College  had  the  appointment  of 
the  members  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture.  He  has  not  always 
been  guided  by  the  highest  purposes,  but  has  occasionally  con- 
sidered these  appointments  as  opportunities  to  wipe  out  the 
lesser  poHtical  obligations  incident  to  a  political  campaign. 

However,  as  I  review  the  history  of  our  College  management 
and  recall  the  anxieties  connected  with  its  growth,  I  think  we 
have  been  extremely  fortunate  in  having  at  every  period  in  its 
history  representatives  of  the  highest  type  of  citizenship  in  the 
management  of  the  institution. 

In  the  early  days  the  position  of  a  member  on  the  Board  of 
Agriculture  was  far  from  being  a  sinecure.  Not  only  did  the 
members  serve  without  pay,  but  the  closest  economy  in  their 

93 


94  MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

personal  expense  was  required.  I  recall  on  many  occasions 
seeing  these  dignified  gentlemen  drawn  through  a  continuous 
mud  hole  from  Lansing  to  the  College  in  a  farm  wagon  very 
poorly  provided  with  elasticity  in  its  springs.  These  men  were 
domiciled  with  the  various  members  of  the  faculty  during  the 
periods  of  their  meetings,  and  in  the  reports  of  the  auditor- 
general  I  notice  that  in  many  instances  the  only  bill  rendered 
in  the  expense  account  was  the  railroad  fare.  It  was  at  no  small 
sacrifice  of  Hfe  comforts  that  these  gentlemen  performed  the 
service  of  managing  the  College. 

During  those  early  days  the  students  graded  higher  in  age 
than  now,  and  full-bearded  men  were  common  in  the  student 
body  in  the  years  immediately  following  the  Civil  War.  I  recall 
an  instance  when  one  of  the  recent  appointees  upon  the  faculty 
mistook  a  board  member  for  one  of  these  students  and  the 
conversation,  which  was  intended  to  be  patronizing,  became 
extremely  ridiculous. 

I  have  been  fortunate  in  having  had  acquaintance  with 
nearly  every  member  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture  since  it  became 
the  controUing  body  of  the  CoUege.  Of  nearly  fifty  men  who 
have  served  in  this  capacity  under  appointment  of  the  various 
governors,  I  can  speak  of  but  few  and  choose  them  rather  be- 
cause of  the  impression  they  made  upon  my  own  mind  as  ac- 
complishing results  in  connection  with  the  evolution  of  the 
institution  of  more  than  ordinary  value. 

First  of  all,  towering  above  his  colleagues,  is  the  figure  of 
Judge  Hezekiah  G.  Wells,  whose  home  was  in  Kalamazoo.  He 
was  a  man  of  poise ;  he  had  a  wide  range  of  ability  and  the  most 
courtly  manners;  he  was  a  natural  leader.  He  came  upon  the 
board  when  his  type  of  character  was  most  needed.  He  was  a 
fearless  advocate  of  agricultural  education  when  it  had  no  popu- 
lar favor ;  he  was  an  earnest  and  persistent  defender  of  the  faith 
when  an  agricultural  education  was  sneered  at  by  the  educators, 
and  encountered  the  opposition  of  a  united  farm  community. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  95 

Never  once,  while  he  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture, 
did  he  falter  in  his  purpose  to  make  this  first  attempt  in  giving 
an  education  toward  agriculture  a  successful  object-lesson  in  the 
state  of  Michigan.  While  he  did  not  Uve  to  see  the  full  fruition 
of  his  faithful  service,  the  dawn  appeared  before  he  laid  his 
armor  down. 

Mr.  S.  O.  Knapp,  of  Jackson,  came  upon  the  board  when  his 
practical  knowledge  of  affairs  was  most  needed  in  the  erection  of 
the  second  set  of  buildings  and  in  the  development  of  the  campus. 
Unusual  duties  were  placed  upon  the  shoulders  of  Mr.  Knapp 
because  of  his  ability  and  his  nearness  to  the  College.  His  knowl- 
edge of  business  methods  enabled  him  to  economize  the  re- 
stricted appropriations  granted  by  the  legislature  so  as  to  make 
every  dollar  count  for  the  institution.  For  many  years  he  gave 
freely  of  his  time  and  energy,  and  to  him,  perhaps  more  than  to 
any  one  of  the  earHer  members  of  the  board,  belongs  the  credit 
of  instituting  the  poHcy  of  definiteness  in  the  financial  poHcy  of 
the  institution. 

J.  Webster  Childs,  of  Ypsilanti,  came  upon  the  board  after 
having  political  training  and  the  acquirement  of  knowledge  as 
to  the  points  of  view  taken  by  the  farmers  of  the  state.  He  was 
a  leader  in  the  Grange  movement  and  it  was  through  the  in- 
fluence of  his  strong  individuality  that  the  farmers,  through  this 
organization,  new  at  that  time,  were  brought  into  sympathy  with 
the  College  and  began  first  to  understand  the  possibilities  in  its 
methods  of  education. 

George  W.  Phillips,  of  Romeo,  was  a  leading  stock  man  and 
one  of  the  managers  of  the  Michigan  State  Fair.  He  was  also 
interested  in  the  first  movement  to  establish  farmers'  institutes 
in  this  state.  He  brought  great  strength  and  sympathy  to  the 
College  through  his  commanding  position  in  agricultural  organi- 
zations and  his  profound  faith  in  the  purposes  of  the  College. 

Franklin  Wells,  of  Constantine,  performed  the  longest  service 
of  any  man  in  the  history  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture  of  Michigan 


96    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

and  every  year's  service  from  the  first  to  the  last  was  of  increasing 
value  to  the  College.  He  was  a  practical  business  man  and  gave 
his  attention  largely  to  the  handling  of  the  finances  of  the  College. 
He  had  little  patience  with  glittering  generalities.  Exactness  in 
method  and  clearly  defined  purposes,  with  complete  records  of 
all  transactions  in  which  public  funds  were  employed,  were 
matters  of  great  concern  to  him.  Governor  Bagley,  in  naming 
him  at  his  first  appointment,  said,  "I  want  a  good  business  man 
in  the  college  management,"  and  in  selecting  Mr.  Wells  he 
performed  a  most  valuable  service  to  the  institution,  the  impress 
of  which  was  etched  into  the  College  history  during  a  period  of 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

For  many  years  the  alumni  of  the  College,  while  not  criticizing 
the  action  of  any  governor  in  making  the  appointments,  argued 
that  there  should  be  a  graduate  of  the  institution  on  its  board  of 
management,  and  Henry  G.  Reynolds,  of  Old  Mission,  was  the 
first  selection  which  recognized  this  expression  and  influence  of 
the  Alumni  Association.  Mr.  Reynolds  brought  into  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  board  a  new  element.  He  was  closely  in  touch 
with  a  large  number  of  the  graduates  of  the  College;  he  under- 
stood their  contentions  for  modifications  in  the  trend  of  the 
College,  and  was  fortunate  in  having  a  disposition  which  harmo- 
nized with  the  other  elements  of  the  board,  and  from  the  very 
outset  his  influence  became  strongly  in  evidence  in  the  activities 
of  the  board. 

Col.  WilHam  B.  McCreery,  of  FUnt,  came  upon  the  board 
after  having  filled  various  positions  in  the  state  government  and 
with  a  very  clear  understanding  of  the  elements  of  opposition 
which  had  been  so  strongly  in  evidence  during  the  earlier  years  of 
the  college  history.  From  the  very  outset  he  was  ready  to  fight 
for  the  institution  and  would  not  for  a  moment  Hsten  to  adverse 
criticism  without  putting  up  an  aggressive  defense.  He  was 
a  man  of  quick  intuition,  ready  in  alternatives,  earnest  in  his 
methods,  a  good  story-teller,  and  never  knew  what  it  was  to  be 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  97 

discouraged.  His  keen  sense  of  humor  many  times  enlivened 
sessions  of  the  board  which  under  the  serious  conditions  would 
otherwise  have  been  very  somber. 

Henry  Chamberlain,  of  Three  Oaks,  twice  served  the  state 
for  a  term  of  six  years  on  this  board.  He  was  an  example  of 
old-time  gentility,  courteous  in  manners,  a  student  of  educational 
methods,  a  practical  poUtician  of  a  most  excellent  type,  and  a 
broad-minded  and  determined  man.  He  was  always  a  fine 
member  to  work  with  whether  in  committee  of  the  whole  or  upon 
a  special  mission.  He  was  a  keen  observer  of  men,  and  during 
his  term  of  service  perhaps  had  more  to  do  with  the  selection  of 
members  to  go  upon  the  teaching  force  than  any  other  member 
in  the  history  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture.  Wherever  Mr. 
Chamberlain  went  he  was  a  partisan  for  agricultural  education, 
and  he  never  considered  it  out  of  place  to  talk  about  the  Michigan 
Agricultural  College.  The  institution  was  on  his  heart  as  well 
as  on  his  mind. 

Cyrus  G.  Luce,  of  Coldwater,  was  rather  a  caustic  critic  of 
the  College  previous  to  receiving  his  appointment  upon  the 
board.  He  soon  became  convinced,  however,  of  the  great  value 
the  institution  could  subserve  in  the  state,  and  because  of  his 
leadership  in  the  Grange  and  in  legislative  halls  he  became  a 
power  for  good  in  the  development  of  the  institution.  And  when 
he  came  into  the  gubernatorial  chair,  he,  of  all  the  governors, 
was  the  most  regular  in  his  attendance  as  an  ex-officio  member 
of  the  board. 

Ira  H.  Butterfield,  of  Lapeer,  came  upon  the  board  after 
having  had  a  wide  experience  in  the  management  of  the  State 
Fair  Association  and  in  filling  a  position  of  trust  under  the  United 
States  government.  Having  had  journalistic  experience  also, 
his  services  were  of  peculiar  value  to  the  College  in  that  he  gave 
voice  to  its  methods;  and  because  he  was  a  master  of  details, 
he  was  always  ready  with  a  wealth  of  information  to  meet  almost 
any  possible  contingency  in  the  movement  of  the  College  to 


98    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

catch  the  sympathies  of  people  generally  in  its  behalf.  He 
had  genius  in  originating  methods  of  promotion;  he  was  re- 
sourceful in  plans  for  advertising  the  institution,  and  he  knew, 
better  than  any  other  member  of  my  acquaintance,  how  to  gather 
in  adherents  to  the  cause  of  agricultural  education  without  mak- 
ing antagonisms. 

As  my  mind  recalls  the  other  names  connected  with  the 
College  management  in  the  early  days,  it  seems  as  if  I  was  com- 
mitting a  serious  error  in  not  calhng  attention  to  other  men  who 
did  special  services,  but  time  will  not  permit.  All  honor  to 
these  citizens  of  Michigan  who  fought  the  good  fight  for  a  type 
of  education  which  has  permeated  the  whole  vast  field  of  school 
and  college  and  university  influence.  They  builded  better  than 
they  knew,  and  today  it  would  make  our  cup  of  happiness  to 
rim  over  if  we  could  see  these  pioneers  in  the  service  of  agri- 
cultural education  witness  the  fruition  of  which  they  scarcely 
dreamed. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  99 


MENDELSSOHN'S  ORATORIO 
Elijah 

WEDNESDAY  EVENING 
Soprano — Mrs.  Lillian  French  Reed 

Chicago 

Contralto — Miss  Viola  Paulus 

Chicago 

Tenor — Mr.  John  Young 

New  York 
Basso — Dr.  Carl  Dufft 

New  York 

THE  BACH  ORCHESTRA  OF  MILWAUKEE 
Christopher  Bach — Conductor 

COLLEGE  CHORUS 
Miss  Louise  Freyhofer — Director 


OPEN  SESSION  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ASSOCIATION 

OF  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGES  AND 

EXPERIMENT  STATIONS 

THURSDAY  MORNING 


DEVELOPMENT  OF   AGRICULTURAL    EDUCATION 


ELMER  ELLSWORTH  BROWN 
Commissioner  of  Education 


The  pioneer  farmers  of  America  had  a  double  interest  in 
Ufe.     First  and  foremost,  they  were  pioneers,  with  aU  of  the 
dangers   and  excitements  of  that   pioneer  life.     Secondarily, 
they  were  farmers.     It  was  hard  and  rude  and  unskilful,  the 
farming  in  which  they  were  engaged,  but  it  gave  them  the  necessi- 
ties of  Hfe.     When  the  first  duU  opposition  of  nature  was  over- 
come, when  cabins  had  been  built  and  woodlands  cleared  and 
the  plow  had  in  some  way  done  its  first  work,  the  soil  showed 
itself  responsive  and  fertile  enough.    For  a  time,  at  least,  Ufe 
was  easier.     But  the  zest  of  pioneering  was  gone,  and  the  more 
adventurous  of  our  people  soon  moved  on  to  the  West,  where 
they  might  feel  the  thin  edge  of  civilization  still  cutting  its  earUest 
way  through  raw  nature  and  barbarism,  and  know  that  that 
keen  edge  was  their  own  Ufe  and  endeavor.     The  farmers  who 
remained  behind  were  now  farmers  only  and  no  longer  pioneers. 
They  saw  the  first  rank  fertiUty  of  the  soil  faU  back  into  more 
moderate  bounds.     Their  Ufe  became  tame  and  binding.     New 
wants  arose  with  the  rise  of  new  social  relations.     A  few  in  every 
community  were  able,  by  insight  and  energy,  to  keep  still  in  the 
forefront  of  things  in  that  new  age,  but  for  many  the  occupa- 
tion which  made  up  the  greater  part  of  their  Ufe  had  become 
an  unpromising,  uninspiring,  unenUghtened  servitude.     In  this 
jubilee  today  we  are  to  recaU  the  ways  in  which  new  zest  has 
been  brought  into  the  depressed  Ufe  of  the  American  farmer,  the 
ways  in  which  his  farm  has  been  made  part  of  a  new  frontier, 
and  he  has  been  made  once  more  a  pioneer. 

At  first  the  improvement  of  our  husbandry  was  the  work  of  a 


103 


I04         MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

few  men,  and  these  were  men  whose  interest  in  farming  was,  in 
large  part,  a  public  interest.  George  Washington  was  one  of 
the  earHest  and  one  of  the  most  influential  of  these.  First  in 
war  and  first  in  peace,  he  was  also,  it  would  seem,  the  first 
American  farmer  of  his  day.  His  outlook  over  the  educational 
needs  of  the  new  nation  included  proposals  for  the  estabUshment 
of  boards  of  agriculture,  a  mihtary  academy,  and  a  national 
university.  Other  statesmen  with  a  care  for  agriculture  and 
other  farmers  who  were  statesmen  in  their  view  urged  that  prac- 
tical provision  be  made  for  the  collection  and  dissemination 
of  agricultural  information.  In  the  opinion  of  these  men  it  was 
information  that  was  chiefly  needed — information  regarding  the 
experience  and  experiments  of  those  who  were  already  most 
advanced  in  the  practice  of  agriculture — to  insure  the  general 
improvement  of  the  farming  industry.  The  new  awakening  in 
European  agriculture  had  great  influence  among  the  leaders  of 
American  agriculture  at  this  time. 

It  was  while  we  were  still  under  the  Articles  of  Confederation 
that  a  beginning  was  made  in  the  formation  of  agricultural 
societies.  Pennsylvania  and  South  Carolina  had  estabhshed 
such  societies  before  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.  New 
York,  Massachusetts,  and  Connecticut  followed  during  Washing- 
ton's administration.  The  publications  of  these  societies  had 
begun  to  appear  before  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and 
agricultural  fairs  came  into  being  in  the  first  decades  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  Various  endeavors  to  secure  the  estabUsh- 
ment of  a  national  board  of  agriculture  had  led,  before  the  day 
that  we  here  celebrate,  to  the  first  seed  distributions  through  the 
national  Patent  Office,  and  to  the  first  separate  agricultural 
appropriation,  in  1854. 

Through  these  several  movements,  supplemented  by  a 
comparatively  early  development  of  an  agricultural  periodical 
literature,  and  through  many  later  developments  of  agricul- 
tural organization,  the  growth  of  interest  in  the  improvement  of 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  105 

rural  conditions  has  long  been  actively  fostered.  But  our  atten- 
tion today  must  be  centered  upon  the  development  of  organized 
agricultural  education,  and  to  that  subject  we  will  turn  without 
any  further  delay. 

Let  us  first  note  some  bearings  of  agricultural  education 
which  have  often  been  discussed,  but  must  be  considered  here 
again  in  the  interest  of  true  educational  perspective.  Historically 
it  has  been  found  extremely  difficult  to  bring  the  subject  of  agri- 
culture into  any  manageable  pedagogic  form.  The  fact  that 
everybody  in  the  country  knows  something  about  it  is  at  first 
a  hindrance  rather  than  a  help.  It  is  difficult  to  treat  the  sub- 
ject in  such  manner  as  to  avoid,  on  the  one  hand,  an  excess  of 
platitude,  a  repetition  of  what  everyone  knows  or  thinks  he 
knows,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  an  excess  of  unutilized  natural 
science,  deeply  interesting  in  itself  but  hard  to  apply  on  the  farm. 
Certain  other  subjects,  of  which  education  itself  is  one,  share  in 
this  handicap.  It  is  a  difiiculty  met  with  in  European  schools 
of  agriculture,  and  it  had  not  been  overcome  in  Europe  or  Amer- 
ica when  the  Michigan  State  Agricultural  College  came  into 
being.  The  most  effective  training  for  manual  occupations  was 
still  some  form  of  apprenticeship,  apart  from  schools,  while  the 
school  had  long  held  the  foremost  place  in  preparation  for  liter- 
ary pursuits.  How  to  combine,  in  one  educative  process,  the 
advantages  of  the  school  and  the  advantages  of  the  apprentice 
system  was  the  problem  of  agricultural  education.  In  one  form 
or  another  it  has  been  the  problem  of  all  our  education  for  spe- 
cial occupations  in  the  past  half-century.  For  the  student  of 
educational  history,  then,  this  problem  of  agricultural  education 
appears  as  one  phase,  and  a  pecuharly  difficult  phase,  of  the 
larger  problem  of  training  for  any  particular  vocation  in  life. 
You  will  not  look  to  me  to  contribute  anything  to  the  special 
history  of  this  institution,  which  others,  here  on  the  ground, 
may  be  expected  to  treat  so  much  more  effectively  than  I  could 
treat  it.     But  my  theme  deals  rather  with  the  broader  move- 


lo6        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

ment  of  which  the  notable  history  of  this  institution  forms  a 
part. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  say  just  where  and  how  systematic 
instruction  in  the  principles  of  agriculture  took  its  rise  in  this 
country.  Such  instruction  was  given  in  some  sort  in  Moor's 
Indian  school,  out  of  which  Dartmouth  College  arose,  back  even 
in  colonial  days.  Benjamin  Franklin  proposed  such  instruction 
for  the  academy  at  Philadelphia,  the  forerunner  of  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  this  part  of  his  plan 
was  reahzed.  In  the  20's  and  30's  of  the  nineteenth  century 
great  interest  was  excited  in  the  so-called  manual-labor  schools. 
It  was  proposed  that  a  farm  be  attached  to  the  schools,  and  that 
those  who  were  studying  during  a  part  of  the  day  should  engage 
in  ordinary  farm  labor  during  another  part  of  the  day.  The 
purpose,  to  be  sure,  was  primarily  to  provide  a  way  by  which 
students  might  "pay  their  way"  through  school.  But  there  was 
a  thought,  too,  of  instruction  in  the  better  methods  of  farming, 
and  at  least  a  vague  dream  of  something  better  yet,  the  vital 
union  of  thought  and  manual  toil.  Some  of  the  old-line  colleges 
showed  at  least  good-will  toward  the  scientific  aspects  of  agri- 
culture, Columbia  even  establishing  a  professorship  under  which 
agriculture  was  ranged  alongside  of  other  sciences.  Then  just 
at  the  middle  of  the  century,  the  state  of  Michigan  provided  in 
its  constitution  of  1850  for  the  establishment  of  an  agricultural 
school,  and  seven  years  later  this  institution,  the  first  of  its  kind 
and  grade  in  the  United  States,  was  ready  to  enrol  its  first  stu- 
dents. Pennsylvania  had  already  incorporated  its  Farmers' 
High  School,  but  it  was  preceded  by  two  years  in  the  actual 
opening  by  this  State  Agricultural  College  of  Michigan.  A 
little  later  in  that  same  notable  year,  1857,  Justin  S.  Morrill  of 
Vermont  first  introduced  his  measure  for  the  endowment  of 
agricultural  and  mechanical  colleges  in  the  several  states  by  the 
national  government. 

What  is  especially  worthy  of  note  at  this  point  is  the  fact  that 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  107 

this  movement,  which  was  primarily  a  movement  of  the  people 
or  rather  of  the  leaders  of  the  people,  found  parallel  embodiment 
in  both  state  and  national  legislation.  At  first  both  the  states 
and  the  nation  moved  but  slowly  and  tentatively.  But  within 
a  few  years  large  beginnings  had  been  made.  In  this,  as  in  other 
pubHc  interests,  within  the  broad  hmitations  of  the  national 
constitution,  working  adjustments  of  state  and  national  agencies 
to  each  other  have  been  made  from  time  to  time,  in  view  of 
practical  needs  rather  than  of  academic  theories. 

The  great,  epoch-making  act  of  this  whole  movement  was 
undoubtedly  the  MorriU  Act,  which  finaUy  reached  its  passage 
when  civil  war  had  lent  new  power  to  the  spirit  of  nationahty  in 
the  national  legislature.  In  signing  this  act,  on  July  2,  1862, 
Abraham  Lincohi,  that  "new  birth  of  our  new  soil,"  that  sur- 
veyor of  western  lands,  who  was  to  drive  the  labor  of  slaves  from 
our  American  fields,  now  joined  his  work  with  that  of  Washing- 
ton, to  make  our  American  tillage  the  doing  of  men  made  free 
by  knowledge  and  enlightened  skill. 

By  the  Morrill  Act  of  1862  the  national  government  gave  aid 
to  the  states,  in  the  way  of  Uberal  grants  of  lands;  it  encouraged 
the  states  to  do  in  their  own  several  ways  the  work  of  higher 
education  in  the  domain  of  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts. 
While  technical  studies  were  brought  to  the  front  in  this  act,  it 
refused  to  draw  a  line  of  opposition  between  those  technical 
subjects  and  the  training  which  makes  for  liberal  culture.  And 
both  technical  and  Uberal  training  were  joined  with  preparation 
for  the  defense  of  the  nation's  life. 

Other  important  acts  soon  followed:  That  estabhshing  a 
national  department  of  agriculture,  in  1862,  which  department 
was  raised  to  cabinet  rank  in  1889;  and  that  establishing  a 
department  of  education  in  1867,  which  department  was  re- 
duced to  the  rank  of  a  bureau  in  1869.  In  their  different  ways, 
these  two  government  offices  have  both  had  to  do  with  the 
administration  of  the  later  acts  for  agricultural  education;   and 


io8        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

I  think  I  may  add  that  on  their  effective  co-operation  depends 
the  full  reaUzation  in  the  future  of  the  high  purposes  for  which 
those  acts  were  passed. 

After  the  Civil  War  the  establishment  of  agricultural  colleges 
went  steadily  forward  till  such  institutions,  aided  by  the  land 
grants  of  the  general  government,  had  been  erected  in  all  of  the 
states,  with  eventually  sixteen  schools  for  colored  students  added 
in  the  southern  states.  The  association  of  these  colleges  was 
organized,  the  Hatch  acts  brought  new  aid  from  the  general 
government  for  the  maintenance  of  experiment  stations,  the 
second  Morrill  Act  added  its  large  federal  appropriations  for  the 
furtherance  of  the  ordinary  work  of  the  colleges,  the  summer 
graduate  school  was  organized,  the  Adams  Act  provided  for 
advanced  research  in  agriculture,  and  finally  the  Nelson  amend- 
ment to  the  agricultural  appropriation  bill  of  1907  has  brought 
still  larger  financial  support  to  the  colleges,  together  with  per- 
missive provision  for  the  use  of  a  part  of  the  federal  grant  in  the 
training  of  teachers  of  agriculture.  It  is  a  record  of  notable 
advance,  and  we  can  hardly  doubt  that  the  great  heart  of  Wash- 
ington would  have  been  glad  to  see  the  results  that  we  may  see 
today. 

When  we  attempt  to  interpret  the  course  of  this  educational 
development  and  to  plan  for  further  advance,  we  need  the  help 
of  some  general  conceptions  relating  to  our  social  organization. 
For  it  is  evident  that  agricultural  education  cannot  be  a  thing 
apart  and  alone.  Its  real  and  lasting  strength  is  to  be  found  in 
its  connection  with  general  education.  And  the  strength  of 
general  education  and  of  all  of  its  special  developments  is  to  be 
found  in  the  connection  of  the  schools  with  the  real  Hfe  of  our 
people. 

Passing  over  all  other  views  of  our  democracy,  however 
essential  and  interesting  they  may  be,  permit  me  to  call  attention 
just  now  to  the  function  of  those  who  are  called  leaders  in  a 
democratic  society.     For  we  now  commonly  recognize  the  fact 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  lOQ 

that  democracy  does  not  dispense  with  leaders,  but  rather  makes 
the  strongest  demand  for  positive  leadership.     But  in  such  a 
society  it  is  not  for  one  individual  or  one  class  simply  to  lead, 
while  another  class  simply  follows.    The  true  leader  in  a  democ- 
racy is  one  who,  while  leading  in  aU  reahty,  is  capable  of  learning 
from  his  followers.     And  the  followers  of  such  a  leader  in  a  true 
democracy  are  not  those  who  follow  because  they  do  not  think, 
but  those  who  follow  because  they  think  and  are  able  to  recog- 
nize their  leader.     They  follow  because  they  are  convinced. 
So  our  whole  social  fabric  is  made  up  of  leaders  who  must  learn 
if  they  would  continue  to  lead,  and  their  peculiarly  restless  and 
skittish  constituencies.    Here   as  everywhere  the  relation  of 
leaders  to  constituencies  is  permanent  and  essential,  but  withm 
that  permanent  relationship  there  is  continual  interplay  and 
shifting  of  parts.     It  is  a  normal  condition  with  us  that  those 
who  have  the  subordinate  part  should  be  increasingly  inteUigent, 
critical,  and  ready  to  assume  the  actual  leadership. 

This  is  the  state  of  things  that  our  system  of  education  fosters 
and  must  continue  to  foster.     It  must  bring  forth  scientific 
experts  who  shall  be  able  to  teach  the  people  the  principles  under- 
lying the  arts  of  life,  and  it  must  train  up  a  people  to  make  for 
the  expert  an  intelUgent  constituency,  quick  to  seize  on  all  that 
he  may  ofifer  for  the  betterment  of  their  practice,  and  quick  to 
reject  those  suggestions  that  they  cannot  put  to  use.     So  our 
pubHc  health  rests  upon  the  co-operation  of  highly  trained  ex- 
perts in  medicine  and  sanitation  and  a  people  who  can  act  inteUi- 
gently  upon  their  directions  and  regulations.     So  our  pubHc  and 
domestic  architecture  is  improving  slowly— very  slowly— through 
the  co-operation  of  architects  who  know  their  art  and  a  buildmg 
people  who  know  their  architects,  and  who  follow  them  in  part 
and  frustrate  them  in  part.     So,  too,  our  agricdtural  education 
must  proceed.     There  must  be  training  of  the  highest  sort  for 
our  agricuhural  experts.     More  than  that,  at  the  topmost  reach 
of  our  agricultural  education  there  must  be  that  which  is  not 


no        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

commonly  recognized  as  education  at  all,  the  pure  research  of 
the  pure  scientist.  For  no  education  can  continue  to  be  really 
alive  unless  it  draws  directly,  from  some  source  of  new  and 
abounding  knowledge,  a  fresh  supply,  never  yet  handled  and 
made  common  among  mankind.  It  may  be  very  little  that  any 
year  or  any  age  may  have  to  give  that  is  altogether  new,  but  that 
little  will  sweeten  all  the  rest.  Then  our  system  of  education 
must  reach  down  to  schools  of  the  lowest  grade,  the  little  country 
schools,  in  which  the  capable  constituency  of  the  great  experts 
is  to  be  trained ;  and  there,  too,  some  of  the  future  leaders  are  to 
make  their  first  beginnings.  The  most  of  those  in  such  schools 
are  to  live  by  the  practical  art  of  farming.  But  in  these  days 
they  are  to  have  the  skill  to  take  the  science  of  the  scientist  and 
transform  it  into  the  art  of  their  lives.  They  are  to  read  agri- 
cultural bulletins  and  understand  and  use  them.  They  are  to 
pick  their  way  and  keep  from  being  mired  in  the  mass  of  such 
literature  now  provided  for  their  reading.  They  are  to  attend 
institutes  and  conventions,  where  they  will  listen  with  discrimi- 
nation to  long  and  learned  papers,  and  make  short  and  pertinent 
speeches  of  their  own.  They  are  to  find  the  farm  interesting 
in  the  highest  degree,  because  of  new  hopes  of  profitable  pro- 
duction which  it  offers  and  because  of  its  connection  with  the 
great  world  of  ideas. 

When  we  grow  more  skilful,  we  shall  make  elementary 
schools  of  a  better-rounded  type,  in  which  the  book-learning 
that  has  long  been  the  distinctive  province  of  the  school  shall 
join  to  itself  the  best  things  in  the  old  system  of  apprenticeship ; 
and  from  that  combination  shall  arise  something  better  than 
either  one  in  its  lonesome  isolation.  Already  we  are  beginning 
to  make  institutions  somewhat  of  this  order,  and  it  will  be  done 
much  better  yet  as  time  goes  on. 

This,  then,  is  what  we  may  see  as  the  ideal,  in  agricultural 
education  and  equally  in  education  of  other  kinds,  and  perhaps 
of  every  kind:  A  system  of  schools  complete  in  its  sequence 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  ill 

from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  in  which  the  study  of  books  is 
closely  joined  with  training  for  some  of  the  practical  arts  of  life ; 
in  which  all  practical  training  is  kept  in  vital  touch  with  general 
education;  in  which  the  abiHty  to  form  sound  and  stable  judg- 
ment is  sought  throughout  as  a  thing  of  very  great  price;  in 
which  the  higher  schools  send  into  the  lower  schools  an  unbroken 
succession  of  teachers  who  both  know  the  truth  and  are  able  to 
bring  others  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth;  and  in  which,  finally, 
the  stream  of  knowledge  fresh  and  new,  from  some  department 
of  pure  research,  shall  never  fail  to  keep  fresh  and  bright  the  old 
wisdom  of  the  ages  gone  before.  Or,  in  more  concrete  state- 
ment, our  elementary  schools  and  high  schools  in  country  com- 
munities are  still  to  be  primarily  schools  of  general  education, 
but  with  much  more  of  training  in  the  arts  of  the  farm,  and  the 
sciences  lying  near  to  those  arts ;  our  state  colleges  of  agriculture 
and  mechanic  arts  are  to  prepare  young  men  and  young  women 
to  read  intelligently  the  literature  of  scientific  agriculture,  to 
form  independent  judgments  in  agricultural  matters,  and  to 
bring  their  new  knowledge  into  connection  with  the  real  work 
of  the  farm;  these  state  colleges,  moreover,  are  to  provide  well- 
trained  teachers  of  agriculture  and  related  subjects  for  the 
elementary  and  secondary  schools;  the  colleges  of  agriculture, 
still  further,  are  to  be  co-operative  educational  institutions  and 
not  merely  special  and  local  institutions — they  are  to  co-operate 
with  similar  institutions  in  other  states,  in  order  that  the  work 
of  one  may  be  strengthened  by  the  work  of  all,  and  co-operate 
with  the  universities  of  their  several  states  for  the  innumerable 
advantages  to  both  which  may  come  from  such  united  effort. 
The  National  Department  of  Agriculture  is  undoubtedly  to 
continue  its  remarkably  wide  and  influential  work,  its  expert 
investigations,  the  issuance  of  manifold  and  vastly  useful  pubH- 
cations,  and  its  furtherance  of  all  manner  of  agricultural  educa- 
tion and  research  in  the  several  states.  Finally,  the  Bureau  of 
Education  is  to  do  as  thoroughly  as  possible  the  part  of  this  work 


112    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

assigned  to  it.  I  venture  the  hope  that  with  enlarged  resources 
it  may  do  more  than  it  is  now  expected  to  do,  and  that  without 
trespassing  on  the  proper  field  of  other  institutions. 

Let  me  speak  a  little  more  particularly  of  the  part  of  this 
program  which  falls  to  the  education  office  of  the  general  govern- 
ment. It  can  do  its  best  work,  I  think,  as  a  co-ordinating 
influence.  It  can  bring  to  the  notice  of  the  less  favored  institu- 
tions information  concerning  the  experience  of  more  advanced 
institutions.  It  can  call  attention  from  time  to  time  to  the 
relation  of  agricultural  education  to  general  education.  It  can 
survey  the  educational  field  and  possibly  point  out  dangers  to 
be  averted  or  weak  places  to  be  strengthened.  It  can,  finally, 
discover  things  that  need  the  doing  and  are  not  attended  to  by 
any  other  agency,  and  can  see  that  some  part  of  such  lack  is 
supplied.  So  much  as  this  I  hope  the  Bureau  of  Education  may 
be  able  to  do  for  our  agricultural  education.  And  so  much  as 
this  I  may  say  it  will  undertake  to  do  as  far  as  its  resources  ^vill 
permit. 

Just  at  this  time,  a  survey  of  the  field  seems  to  show  that  the 
paramount  need  is  the  need  of  a  supply  of  qualified  teachers. 
Arrangements  have  already  been  made  for  the  publication  in 
the  fall  of  an  issue  of  the  Bulletin  of  tJie  Bureau  of  Education 
devoted  to  the  present  condition  of  the  agricultural  and  mechani- 
cal colleges,  and  particularly  to  the  ways  by  which  teachers  may 
be  trained  in  those  colleges  to  meet  the  needs  of  high  schools 
and  normal  schools  in  which  agricultural  subjects  are  taught. 
A  preliminary  account  of  the  history  and  present  condition  of 
agricultural  education  throughout  the  world  is  to  appear  in  the 
near  future,  in  another  issue  of  the  Bulletin,  which  will,  it  is 
hoped,  be  of  help  in  such  training  of  teachers  and  a  help  to  those 
teachers  who  are  already  in  the  field. 

In  conclusion,  the  view  cannot  be  too  strongly  stressed  that 
all  of  this  agricultural  education  is  a  contribution  to  the  general 
education  of  the  American  people  and  to  the  betterment  of 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  113 

American  life.  You  who  celebrate  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of 
this  institution  reaUze,  as  the  history  of  this  College  has  shown, 
that  it  is  not  simply  larger  crops  and  better  breeds  of  stock  and 
a  more  profitable  output  of  farm  manufacture  for  which  you  are 
laboring;  but  through  these  means  and  through  all  other  inter- 
ests of  the  modern  farm,  you  are  working  for  the  improvement 
of  American  citizenship,  and  that  with  special  reference  to  the 
needs  of  this  great  state  of  Michigan.  May  you  long  continue 
to  serve  the  commonwealth  and  the  larger  repubhc  as  faith- 
fully and  as  successfully.  And  may  every  good  cause  in  this 
land  feel  the  reinforcement  of  a  wholesome  and  vigorous  Ufe  in 
the  homes  of  our  country  communities,  which  have  been  made 
more  prosperous  homes  and  better  homes  because  of  the  work 
that  you  are  doing  here. 


THE    DEVELOPMENT   OF    ENGINEERING    EDUCA- 
TION IN  THE  LAND-GRANT  COLLEGES 


WINTHROP  ELLSWORTH  STONE 


It  is  matter  of  conjecture  as  to  how  far  Senator  Morrill  and 
his  colleagues  foresaw  the  great  and  true  significance  of  the  now 
famous  act  of  Congress  establishing  the  land-grant  colleges. 
That  it  was  to  become  the  actuating  force  in  a  new  educational 
movement,  and  that  it  was  to  influence  the  industrial  and  com- 
mercial growth  of  the  nation  profoundly,  were  generahties  in 
which  its  advocates  undoubtedly  believed  without  being  able  to 
conceive  of  the  details  of  their  operation.  The  rapidity  with 
which  these  institutions  have  sprung  into  commanding  positions, 
have  overcome  prejudiced  opposition,  and  have  won  pubUc 
confidence  and  respect  must  have  been  beyond  the  compre- 
hension of  these  men,  for  never  in  the  previous  annals  of  educa- 
tion has  anything  of  equal  or  similar  character  or  extent  been 
recorded. 

But  now,  after  the  passing  of  little  more  than  a  generation,  he 
who  would  chronicle  the  manner  and  extent  to  which  these  land- 
grant  colleges  have  developed  in  respect  of  the  single  department 
of  engineering  education  finds  himself — so  extensive  is  the  sub- 
ject— deahng  with  the  leading  facts  of  the  times  in  regard  to  edu- 
cation, appUed  science,  and  industrial  and  commercial  progress. 

The  impulses  set  in  motion  by  the  passage  of  the  Morrill  Act 
have  developed,  in  a  remarkably  short  time,  a  new  education; 
have  achieved  great  popularity  and  influence ;  have  appealed  to 
the  democracy;  and  have  proved  its  inestimable  value  to  the 
industries.  As  is  well  known,  the  act,  while  remarkably  broad 
in  its  scope,  specifically  emphasizes  two  principal  fines  of  educa- 
tional cfl'ort,  viz.,  in  "agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts,"  and, 

114 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  1 15 

properly,  these  colleges  have  from  the  beginning  in  accordance 
therewith  expended  their  energies  mainly  in  these  two  industrial 
fields. 

My  duty  at  this  time  is  to  set  forth  what  has  been  accom- 
plished by  the  land-grant  colleges  in  the  sphere  of  mechanic  arts. 
In  this  discussion  I  shall  broadly  include  all  of  those  institutions 
receiving  state  or  federal  support,  in  which  engineering  is  taught, 
since  with  few  exceptions  the  state  universities  and  colleges  en- 
gaged in  engineering  instruction  are  also  beneficiaries  of  the 
Morrill  Act. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that,  in  nearly  every  instance,  the  de- 
mands upon  these  colleges  for  instruction  in  "mechanic  arts," 
especially  in  the  earher  days,  have  greatly  exceeded  those  for 
"agriculture."  The  aggregate  enrolment  of  students  of  colle- 
giate grade  in  engineering  courses  in  these  institutions  has  been 
many  times  greater  than  in  courses  in  agriculture.  Frequently 
the  representatives  of  agriculture  have  shown  impatience  at 
these  conditions,  ascribing  the  inequaHty  of  attendance  in  these 
departments  to  unfair  discrimination  on  the  part  of  the  college 
management.  The  real  causes,  however,  seem  to  He  elsewhere. 
Instruction  in  engineering  was  earHer  and  better  organized  as 
regards  pedagogical  form;  the  industries  included  under  me- 
chanic arts  have  had  a  better  appreciation  of  the  value  of  tech- 
nical training;  there  has  been  and  is  a  tendency  among  young 
people  to  regard  agriculture  unfavorably  as  compared  with  other 
pursuits;  and,  finally,  the  recent  extraordinary  developments 
in  manufacturing,  mining,  and  transportation  have  created  a 
great  demand  for  men  trained  in  the  mechanic  arts,  which  no 
inducements  in  the  field  of  agriculture  could  match.  The  rapid 
development  of  engineering  education,  therefore,  has  obeyed 
the  influence  of  distinct  public  needs  and  demands  to  meet  which 
has  given  college  authorities  no  end  of  difficulty  and  which, 
under  these  conditions,  they  certainly  have  had  neither  power 
nor  desire  to  stimulate. 


Ii6        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

The  conditions  which  have  been  less  favorable  to  agricultural 
education  are  now,  happily,  disappearing  and  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  agricultural  courses  in  the  land-grant  colleges  are 
soon  to  become  quite  as  popular,  attractive,  and  effective  as 
those  in  engineering;  a  situation  which  I  am  sure  will  be  wel- 
comed by  everyone  who  desires  to  see  these  colleges  fulfilling 
their  original  purpose  to  the  highest  possible  degree. 

In  endeavoring  to  trace  the  development  and  present  status 
of  these  engineering  schools,  one  5bon  is  impressed  with  the  fact 
that  he  is  dealing  with  practically  the  whole  history  of  engineer- 
ing instruction  in  America,  and,  next,  he  realizes  that  this  record 
constitutes  an  important  part  of  the  world's  progress  in  this  field. 
In  fact  in  the  essential  development  of  engineering  education  the 
land-grant  colleges,  in  their  various  forms  of  organization,  have 
always  been  foremost  and  in  the  aggregate  are  today  the  prin- 
cipal exponents  of  this  phase  of  education. 

Systematic  instruction  in  engineering  science  is  a  recent 
thing;  it  is  a  constituent  part  of  the  remarkable  development 
of  industrial  and  technological  training  which  is  recognized  as 
the  principal  educational  event  of  the  last  half-century.  It  is 
true  that  some  isolated  and  vague  experiments  in  this  field  were 
undertaken  nearly  a  hundred  years  ago,  but  an  estimate  of  the 
scope  and  value  of  these  efforts  may  be  had  by  considering  how 
imperfect  was  the  existing  knowledge  of  pure  science  until  well 
into  the  nineteenth  century,  while  the  applications  of  these 
sciences  to  the  arts  and  industries  were  scarcely  recognized,  much 
less  organized  into  any  pedagogical  system,  until  very  recently. 
With  two  or  three  exceptions'  there  was  in  America  no  organized 
attempt  at  engineering  instruction  prior  to  the  Civil  War.  Con- 
temporaneous with,  or  following,  this  period  came  three  epoch- 
making  events,  each  of  which  was  in  itself  of  great  importance  but 
which,  in  conjunction,  have  wrought  an  extraordinary  national 

'  Rensselaer  Polytechnic  Institute,  founded  in  1824;  the  Lawrence  Scien- 
tific School,  in  1846;   the  Sheffield  Scientific  School,  in  1847. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  1 17 

influence  upon  education  and  industry.  These  events  were: 
the  estabhshment  of  the  land-grant  colleges;  the  great  wave  of 
scientific  discovery  and  invention;  and  the  remarkable  com- 
mercial and  industrial  development  of  the  country.  Under 
these  conditions  the  growth  of  engineering  schools  has  been 
little  less  than  remarkable. 

In  claiming  thus  for  the  land-grant  colleges  a  considerable 
degree  of  prestige  on  account  of  the  development  of  engineering 
education,  I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  great  contributions  to 
progress  in  this  field  made  by  other  institutions.  For  this  all 
due  credit  should  be  given.  Nevertheless,  if  one  could  con- 
ceive of  the  annihilation  of  what  has  been  done  and  is  being 
done  in  the  land-grant  colleges  in  engineering  science,  the  loss 
would  involve,  I  am  sure,  a  very  large  part  of  the  present  pos- 
sessions of  engineering  education  in  America,  if  not  of  the  entire 
world. 

That  this  should  be  so  is,  after  all,  quite  natural.  If  any- 
thing less  had  been  achieved  upon  this  special  foundation  and  in 
the  stimulating  industrial  atmosphere  of  America,  our  institu- 
tions would  be  blameworthy  indeed.  The  conditions  have 
been  unusually  favorable  and,  in  general,  they  have  been  uti- 
lized with  marked  success. 

This  development  has  been  on  characteristic  and,  in  some 
respects,  unique  fines.  Because  these  institutions  were  new 
foundations — for  the  most  part — they  were  free  to  build  new 
structures  untrammeled  by  conventionalities  and  free  from  use- 
less imitations.  Just  as  our  engineers  are  notable  for  their 
initiative,  adaptabifity,  and  resourcefulness,  so  our  engineering 
schools  have  met  and  solved  problems  on  the  ground,  in  a  practi- 
cal way.  Without  ignoring  what  was  of  value  in  previously 
existing  systems,  they  have  been  free  to  strike  out  in  new  lines. 
Wisely,  they  have  from  the  first  endeavored  to  adapt  their  meth- 
ods and  scope  of  instruction  to  the  distinct  needs  and  conditions 
of  our  industries.     This  policy  has  evoked  much  sharp  criticism 


ii8    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

as  to  its  real  educational  value,  but  the  schools  have  gone  steadily 
on,  creating  a  new  education  with  a  new  spirit;  winning  the 
confidence  of  the  commercial  world;  and  becoming  the  chief 
bulwark  against  the  growing  prejudice  against  "the  college 
graduate."  Recognizing  that  engineering  is  an  intensely  practi- 
cal profession,  they  have  sought  to  impart  a  training  which 
should  develop  in  their  students  the  power  to  do  things  eflfect- 
ively,  in  the  beUef  that  this  is  the  modern  criterion  of  education. 
To  these  estabUshed  characteristics  of  originahty,  adaptabihty, 
thoroughness,  and  efficiency,  our  engineering  schools  undoubt- 
edly owe  their  high  standing,  popularity,  and  the  confidence  of 
the  professional  and  technical  world. 

Since  these  institutions  by  reason  of  their  origin  and  functions 
form  a  class  by  themselves,  it  is  important  to  classify  and  enu- 
merate their  features  of  organization,  method,  and  curriculum, 
which  constitute  the  present  basis  of  engineering  education  in 
this  country. 

The  institutions  are  for  the  most  part  of  collegiate  grade, 
receiving  students  from  the  secondary  schools  and  administering 
a  full  four-years'  course  upon  the  completion  of  which  a  variety 
of  degrees  of  the  bachelor's  rank  are  conferred.  With  few 
exceptions,  the  land-grant  colleges  are  coeducational  and  women 
students  are  occasionally  found  in  the  engineering  courses.  A 
few  have  been  known  to  graduate,  but  of  their  subsequent 
careers  the  engineering  chronicles  are  significantly  silent. 

Measured  by  the  conventional  standards  established  by 
schools  of  liberal  arts,  the  requirements  for  entrance  are  not 
high,  varying  in  different  parts  of  the  country  from  six  to  sixteen 
high-school  units.  In  many  instances  these  requirements  are 
higher  than  for  the  agricultural  school  in  the  same  institution. 
As  a  rule,  in  any  given  part  of  the  country  admission  to  the 
engineering  school  is  practically  on  the  same  basis  as  to  the 
college  of  liberal  arts,  although  usually  not  identical.  The 
authorities  are  agreed,  for  the  most  part,  that  in  state  institutions 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  119 

it  is  unwise  to  require  preparation  which  the  average  public 
schools  of  the  community  cannot  supply.  Nor  is  it  the  practice 
to  include  Greek  or  Latin  in  these  requirements.  Weight  is 
laid  chiefly  upon  English,  mathematics,  and  the  sciences,  as 
being  directly  necessary  to  the  work  of  the  engineering  courses. 
In  other  matters,  the  engineering  schools  have  not  been  bound 
by  the  practices  of  others,  but  in  their  entrance  requirements 
have  given  consideration  to  the  educational  opportunities  and 
needs  of  the  industrial  classes.  On  the  other  hand,  they  recog- 
nize elements  of  training  and  preparation  which  are  quite  ignored 
in  the  purely  academic  requirements  for  colleges  of  liberal  arts. 
It  may  be  claimed,  consistently,  that  entrance  requirements  to 
engineering  schools  should  differ  from  but  not  be  of  lower  grade 
than  those  of  colleges  of  liberal  arts.  Everyone  knows  that 
book  knowledge  alone  does  not  give  power  and  efficiency,  and 
it  would  seem  that  in  standardizing  entrance  requirements  to 
engineering  colleges  some  weight  should  be  given  to  the  maturity 
and  experience  of  the  applicant.  In  short,  our  engineering 
schools  are  coming  to  recognize  that  a  valuable  part  of  the  prep- 
aration for  an  engineering  course  may  be  obtained  in  the  field, 
shop,  or  office,  and  cannot  be  measured  in  high-school  units 
alone. 

The  curriculum  of  our  engineering  schools  is  characterized 
by  the  weight  given  to  mathematical,  scientific,  and  technical 
subjects  in  contradistinction  to  the  classics  and  humanities, 
although  in  all  of  these  there  is  an  evident  purpose  to  retain  in 
the  course  of  study  as  much  as  possible  of  the  cultural  elements. 
English,  the  modern  languages,  history,  and  economics  are  for 
this  reason  given  much  weight.  The  physical  and  chemical 
sciences,  mathematics,  shop  practice,  and  drawing  are  the 
fundamentals  of  engineering  education,  and  following  these  in 
sequence  come  the  subjects  ot  mechanics,  machine  design, 
thermo-dynamics,  hydrauHcs,  and  the  various  specializations 
pertaining  to  the  different  branches  of  engineering  practice. 


I20        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

The  student  has  httle  choice  of  subjects  in  any  given  course, 
for  the  elective  system  is  unsuited  to  the  mastery  of  a  logical 
sequence  of  facts  and  principles.  The  curricula  of  engineering 
courses  are,  therefore,  almost  exclusively  prescribed.  There  is, 
moreover,  a  characteristic  blending  of  the  theoretical  and  prac- 
tical. A  knowledge  of  the  hypotheses  and  theories  of  pure 
science  is  fundamental  to  the  training  of  an  engineer,  but  they 
are  valueless  to  him  unless  their  appUcations  are  traced.  Natur- 
ally the  laboratory  has  a  large  place  in  this  scheme  of  instruction. 
It  is  necessary  that  the  student  have  contact  with  and  an  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  machines  and  materials  with  which  he  is  later 
to  deal.  The  laboratory-  courses  and  equipment  are,  therefore, 
striking  characteristics  of  our  engineering  schools.  In  chemistry, 
physics,  electricity,  steam  engineering,  shop  practice,  material 
testing,  hydraulics,  and  drawing  each  student  must  be  supplied 
with  a  work  place  and  equipment  for  the  study  of  the  actual 
phenomenon  or  object  under  consideration.  The  shops  and 
laboratories  of  a  modern  engineering  college  have  all  of  the 
aspects  of  a  commercial  establishment,  and  contain  types  of  the 
real  machines  and  materials  of  commerce.  These  methods 
and  equipments  are  responsible  for  the  costHness  of  engineering 
education  in  marked  contrast  to  courses  in  liberal  arts. 

From  the  nature  of  the  subjects  taught,  the  standard  of  schol- 
arship in  our  engineering  schools  is  high.  The  predominance  of 
mathematical  subjects;  the  accuracy  of  observation  and  state- 
ment required;  the  analytical  character  of  much  of  the  work 
render  it  impossible  for  a  dull  man  to  succeed.  These  schools 
are  not  training  mechanics  or  skilled  workmen.  Manual  dex- 
terity is  important  and  a  knowledge  of  practical  operations  is 
essential  to  the  engineer,  but  his  power  hes  in  his  capacity  to 
organize  and  utiHze  forces  and  materials,  and  his  training  is 
intellectual  rather  than  manual.  The  actual  expenditure  of 
mental  effort  required  of  the  engineering  student  is,  I  believe, 
quite  exceptional,  for  the  successive  steps  of  advancement  to 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION 


121 


which  he  must  attaia  are  fixed  and  absolute;  they  mvolve  the 
Txercise  of  opinion  and  criticism  but  dightly;  they  require 
a  her  a  definite  knowledge  of  facts  and  their  appl  catton  whrch 
permits  of  no  error  or  half-knowledge.  Higlr  standards  must  be 
maintained,  for  the  graduate  must,  ultimately  sustam  he  mo 
exacting  tests  in  practical  experience.  Nothmg  would  more 
Speedily  destroy  the  efficiency  of  engineering  trammg  than  low 
Standards  of  scholarship. 

The  scope  of  engineering  instruction  is  as  broad  as  the  coun- 
try itself.    In  all  of  the  schools  the  general  principles  and  f uti- 
damentals  are  taught,  but  beyond  this  is  a  wi^de  variety  of  deve- 
opment  into  special  Unes  related  to  sectional  or  local  interest  . 
Civil    mechanical,  and  electrical  engineering  are  the  subjects 
most  commonly  presented,  but  .several  institutions  offer  courses 
in  mining  engineering,  while  sanitary,  municipal  and  chemical 
engineering  and  architecture  all  have  honorable  place  in  the 
hst"     Certain  institutions  offer  instruction  also  in  engmeering 
principles   as   specially   applied   to   sugar-making,   irrigation, 
forestry;  marine  engineering  is  also  taught  in  one  or  two  schools 
and  there  is   an  interesting  and  increasing  development  of 
engineering  instruction  as  applied  to  farm  machinery  and  opera- 
tions-which  is  perhaps  best  designated  as  farm  mechanics. 
The  extent  of  the  courses  of  instruction  in  engineering  is,  in 
point  of  time,  usually  four  years,  of  which  the  first  two  are  spent 
upon  the  fundamental  and  general  subjects,  and  the  last  two 
upon  those  which  are  special  and  technical.    Among  other 
usual  requirements  for  graduation  is  the  completion  of  an  origi- 
nal study  or  investigation,  the  results  of  which  are  presented  in 
a  "thesis  "    The  graduate  receives  in  most  cases  the  degree  ot 
■■Bachelor  of  Science,"  which  is  frequently  further  qualified  with 
reference  to  the  particular  line  of  study  pursued.    A  few  institu- 
tions give  professional  degrees,  such  as  "Electrical  Engineer 
■■Civil  Engineer,"  etc.,  for  the  completion  of  undergraduate 
courses;  the  larger  and  better  equipped  colleges  also  admmister 


122         MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

graduate  courses,  for  which  advanced  degrees  are  granted. 
In  a  few  instances,  the  honorary  degree  of  "Doctor  of  Engineer- 
ing" has  been  given. 

By  no  means  a  minor  phase  of  the  work  of  these  institutions 
is  that  of  research  and  investigation.  Countless  problems  pre- 
sent themselves  in  connection  with  every  industry,  in  regard  to 
the  improvement  of  methods,  designing  of  apparatus,  use  of 
materials,  fixing  of  standards,  etc.,  and  for  information  on  these 
matters  the  pubHc  applies  with  confidence  to  the  engineering 
schools.  Scientific  and  technical  literature  teems  with  articles 
from  teachers  and  students  of  engineering,  and  many  of  the 
contributions  to  knowledge  from  this  source  are  of  national,  or, 
indeed,  world-wide  fame. 

Having  thus  briefly  outlined  the  present  methods  and  work 
of  the  engineering  schools,  I  would  broadly  characterize  their 
distinguishing  features  to  be :  First,  an  adaptation  of  instruction 
in  theory  and  practice  into  a  course  of  training  which  is  at  once 
of  high  educational  value,  and  of  special  application  to  practical 
affairs;  and,  second,  the  high  efficiency  in  turning  out  a  product 
which  commends  itself  to  practical  men,  and  which  is  ready  for 
immediate  participation  in  the  work  of  the  world. 

WHAT   HAS   BEEN  ACCOMPLISHED 

The  immediate  products  of  these  schools  are  thousands  of 
young  men  trained  in  accurate,  scientific  methods  of  thought  and 
study;  skilled  in  the  apphcation  of  scientific  principles  to  prac- 
tical affairs;  and  grounded  in  the  fundamental  principles  of 
engineering  work.  That  there  exists  a  great  demand  for  young 
men  of  this  type  in  all  kinds  of  manufacturing  and  productional 
enterprises  immediately  makes  clear  that  to  the  individual  this 
kind  of  education  is  profitable  because  of  the  good  market  for 
his  accompHshments,  and  not  only  is  the  immediate  opportunity 
for  the  young  graduate  exceptionally  good  but  the  way  is  open 
to  a  career  of  great  responsibility,  influence,  and  remuneration. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  "3 

On  the  other  hand,  the  value  of  these  trained  forces  to  the 
industrial  and  commercial  interests  of  the  country  cannot  be 
overestimated.  There  could  be  no  continuous  development  or 
progress  without  these  trained  men  and,  though  the  graduates 
of  these  schools  are  still  young,  their  influence  upon  methods, 
practice,  and  operation  is  already  an  important  factor  m  our 
country's  development.  , 

A  further  result  of  this  breeding  of  trained  engmeers  is  to 
educate  the  public  to  a  better  appreciation  of  the  value  of  the 
appUcation  of  scientific  study  and  methods  to  aU  busmess  and 
industrial  operations.    The  development  of  this  understanding 
is  altogether  significant.    A  few  years  since,  ^^V  J^''^^ JT^ 
who  based  an  appUcation  for  a  business  position  on  the  fact  that 
he  was  a  coUege  graduate  would  probably  have  been  treated 
with  contumely.    Now  all  of  this  has  been  changed,  and  it  is 
the  ordinary  experience  of  engineering  schools  that  all  of  the 
members  of  their  graduating  classes  are  sought  to-^  p'°f^^''°°f 
positions  before  they  have  received  their  diplomas     This  broader 
appreciation  of  the  value  of  trained  men  and  of  the  appUcation 
of  scientific  methods  means  true  progress  in  our  industria  land 
commercial   development.    It   means   better   public   utilities 
higher  factors  of  safety  and  health;  and  cleaner,  saner,  and 
safer  living  for  the  whole  people.  .  ,„h„i 

StiU  further,  and  quite  aside  from  the  professional  and  techni- 
cal influence  of  the  graduates  of  these  schools,  I  regard  it  as  not 
presumptuous  to  claim  for  them  a  citizenship  of  high  quality. 
1  claim  that  no  other  training  is  likely  to  breed  so  genmne  a 
contempt  for  shams  and  hatred  of  dishonesty  as  the  engineering 
training,  and  that  no  other  class  of  men  are  so  Ukely  to  stand  for 
right  principles  in  the  administration  of  pubUc  offices  as  weU  as 
for  private  honor  and  honesty.  Of  course  there  wiU  be  excep- 
tions to  this  rule,  but  if  there  is  anything  in  dealing  with  the 
immutable  laws  of  nature;  anything  in  the  engineers  concep- 
tion of  accuracy  likely  to  develop  respect  for  law  and  sincenty 


124   MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

of  purpose,  then  the  training  which  the  engineer  receives  cannot 
but  have  its  corresponding  e£fect  upon  character. 

Finally,  among  other  results  of  the  work  of  engineering 
schools,  we  may  not  ignore  the  actual  contribution  to  technical 
and  scientific  knowledge  made  through  investigations  and  re- 
searches carried  on  in  the  laboratories  of  their  institutions. 
These  investigations  relate  to  every  possible  phase  of  the  pro- 
duction and  utilization  of  power,  the  performance  of  machines, 
and  the  characterization  of  the  physical  properties  of  materials 
of  construction.  To  illustrate  more  fuUy  what  is  meant  by  this 
statement,  I  may  point  out  that  a  generation  ago  it  was  the 
exception  that  any  machine  was  constructed  or  purchased  on  a 
specification  as  to  its  efficiency  of  performance,  or  for  any  ma- 
terial of  construction  to  be  suppHed  on  a  specification  of  qualities. 
Now  the  effort  is  to  base  all  transactions  upon  a  specification  of 
quaUty  or  efficiency  based  upon  accurate  scientific  tests.  For 
instance,  no  one  now  buys  a  steam  boiler  except  on  specification 
of  its  evaporative  efficiency,  or  steel,  except  upon  specification 
of  its  strength,  or  paint,  or  coal,  or  cement,  except  upon  certain 
guarantees  of  quahty,  and  even  the  physical  characteristics  and 
qualities  of  timber  are  now  being  determined  and  fixed  in  engi- 
neering laboratories  as  a  possible  basis  for  future  use  in  this  way. 
The  work  of  determining  these  standards,  of  devising  methods 
of  testing,  of  accumulating  the  vast  data  of  reference,  and  of 
actually  carrying  on  these  tests  and  determinations  has  been 
the  contribution  of  our  engineering  laboratories.  How  vast 
this  is  and  to  what  an  extent  it  controls  and  improves  engineering 
practice  can  be  imagined,  but  scarcely  comprehended.  In  the 
great  engineering  societies,  engaged  in  promoting  and  fixing 
engineering  standards,  the  teachers  and  graduates  of  engineering 
colleges  are  prominent  and,  through  these  channels,  exercise 
their  influence  on  professional  practice.  Another  important 
contribution  from  the  teachers  of  engineering  has  been  the 
development  and  organization  of  the  material  of  instruction. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  125 

A  generation  since,  scarcely  anything  had  been  done  toward 
systematizing  engineering  instruction,  but  during  this  time 
curricula  have  been  perfected,  texts  written,  laboratory  experi- 
ments devised,  and  the  entire  plan  of  teaching  brought  to  a  high 
degree  of  efficiency. 

These  facts  indicate  that  the  work  of  the  engineering  schools 
of  the  land-grant  colleges  has  been  quite  as  extensive,  valuable, 
and  useful  in  its  way  as  has  ever  been  accompHshed  in  any 
educational  field  in  a  like  time.  Indeed,  in  view  of  their  rapid 
development  and  the  extraordinary  contemporary  interest  in 
technical  affairs,  probably  no  other  schools  have  exerted  so 
great  an  influence  in  so  short  a  time. 

WHAT  IS   TO   BE   THE   FUTURE  DEVELOPMENT  OF   OUR 
ENGENEERING  SCHOOLS? 

Up  to  this  time,  engineering  instruction  as  an  organized  force 
of  education  has  been  occupied  with  laying  foundations;  with 
systematizing  and  developing  its  teaching;  with  preparing  texts 
and  lectures;  and  with  the  adaptation  into  teachable  form  of  an 
enormous  mass  of  material.  It  has  been  burdened  with  the 
demands  for  practical  men.  It  has  been  called  upon  to  solve 
problems;  to  supply  men;  and  to  meet  the  exacting  demands 
of  an  unparalleled  commercial  and  material  development. 
Much  of  this  work  has  been,  of  necessity,  of  an  elementary 
character  because  of  the  absence  of  any  other  agency  to  perform 
it.  The  requirements  growing  out  of  these  conditions  are  now 
being  fairly  well  met  in  the  various  engineering  colleges.  We 
shall  probably  next  see  a  differentiation  of  this  instructional 
work  by  which  the  elements  of  engineering  and  industrial  train- 
ing will  be  administered  in  industrial,  trade,  and  manual-training 
schools.  In  this  way,  the  opportunities  for  this  kind  of  training 
will  be  greatly  multipUed  and  made  available  to  far  greater  num- 
bers of  students  than  at  present,  and  the  general  effect  of  this 
upon  the  public  will  be  vastly  beneficial.    The  engineering  schools 


126        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

will  then  be  free  to  devote  their  resources  to  instruction  and  re- 
search in  the  higher  branches  of  technology. 

A  logical  step  in  this  direction  will  be  the  establishment  of 
bureaus  or  laboratories  devoted  entirely  to  investigations  of 
engineering  problems  and  the  fixing  of  standards.  I  beheve  we 
shall  come  in  this  way  to  the  engineering  experiment  station,  the 
analogue  of  what  has  now  become  so  important  an  adjunct  of 
agricultural  instruction,  namely,  the  agricultural  experiment 
station.  One  state^  has  already  estabUshed  such  a  research 
station  with  generous  financial  support.  There  can  be  no  logi- 
cal argument  advanced  for  the  agricultural  experiment  station 
which  will  not  apply  with  equal  force  to  the  engineering  sta- 
tion, be  it  on  account  of  the  important  interests  involved,  the 
problems  inviting  solution,  or  the  industrial  value  of  such  an 
institution. 

In  conclusion,  one  cannot  contemplate  the  developments  of 
these  institutions  without  a  feeling  of  pride  in  their  achievements 
and  a  conviction  that  the  phase  of  education  which  they  typify 
is  destined  to  become  more  and  more  important  in  America. 
The  essential  basis  and  foundation  of  a  nation's  welfare  is  to  be 
found  in  its  industrial  conditions.  It  is  true  that  those  abstract 
quaHties  which  contribute  to  national  greatness  and  patriotic 
citizenship  are  the  offspring  of  ideals  rather  than  of  material 
things,  but  these  can  never  come  to  their  fullest  fruitage  with- 
out that  substantial  foundation  afforded  by  rational  and  well- 
balanced  industrial  forces.  The  highest  development  of  national 
ideas  is  like  a  flower  whose  beauty  is  unfolded  in  a  clear  atmos- 
phere, while  its  roots  find  anchorage  and  nourishment  in  the 
fertile  stratum  of  an  intelUgent  industrial  democracy.  True 
industrial  progress  consists  in  utilizing  with  ever-increasing 
economy  and  accuracy  natural  forces  and  materials,  in  more 
scientific  methods  of  operation  and  management,  in  securing 

'  The  University  of  Illinois  established  an  engineering  experimental  station 
in  1903. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  127 

better  conditions  of  life  for  industrial  workers,  in  furnishing 
products  of  better  quality  at  lower  cost,  and  in  narrowing  the  gap 
between  the  employer  and  the  employee.  Education  alone  can 
accomplish  these  things,  but  it  must  be  an  education  which 
reaches  the  industrial  classes  and  applies  to  industrial  condi- 
tions, and  this  is  the  true  aim  and  spirit  of  our  land-grant  colleges. 


THE  AUTHORITY  OF  SCIENCE 


WHITMAN  H.  JORDAN 


As  a  prologue  to  the  subject  that  I  have  assigned  myself, 
permit  me  to  present  to  the  officers  and  students  of  the  institu- 
tion whose  guests  we  are,  my  greetings  and  felicitations.  This  is, 
indeed,  an  occasion  for  well-deserved  congratulation  and  praise. 
We  are  assembled  within  the  borders  of  an  institution  that  for 
fifty  years  has  rendered  distinguished  service  in  a  new  field  of 
education,  and  there  are  some  features  of  this  service  which 
merit  generous  and  grateful  recognition. 

To  the  trustees  and  faculty  of  this  College,  I  would  say  that 
it  is  a  notable  achievement  to  have  taken  a  leading  part  in  build- 
ing new  avenues  along  which  knowledge  has  approached  more 
closely  to  human  needs,  especially  when  to  do  this  in  the  face  of 
unbeHef  or  of  dogmatic  opposition  has  required  on  your  part  a 
tenacious  faith  and  an  abiding  courage.  At  the  same  time  you 
and  your  predecessors  have  manifested  a  spirit  of  rational  and 
safe  conservatism.  While  your  College  has  departed  widely 
from  the  curricula  of  the  older  institutions,  it  has  held  fast  to  the 
great  truth,  the  soundness  of  which  can  never  be  successfully 
assailed,  that  the  only  way  to  uplift  any  industry  is  to  develop 
among  those  who  are  engaged  in  it  not  only  technical  knowledge 
and  skill,  but  intellectual  and  moral  force.  To  this  end  the 
vagaries  and  educational  poverty  of  extreme  specialization  have 
not  been  allowed  to  seize  upon  your  courses  of  study.  Evidently 
you  have  not  believed  that  "intensive  knowledge"  of  one  subject 
compensates  for  "extensive  ignorance"  of  everything  else.  It  is 
clear  that  you  have  not  been  willing  wholly  to  subordinate  to  his 
vocational  skill  a  man's  intellectual  and  social  well-being.     This 

128 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  129 

much  of  the  faith  and  practice  of  the  fathers  has  remained  with 
you.     May  you  never  lose  it ! 

I  suspect  that  your  wise  conservatism  has  been  due  partly  to 
the  fact  that  you  have  had  among  your  number  great  leaders  and 
teachers  who  have  been  both  expounders  of  truth  and  centers  of 
inspiration.  Two  of  these  I  came  to  know  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago,  one  of  whom,  ripe  in  years  and  full  of  honor,  has  entered 
into  his  rest.  The  other  with  unabated  zeal  for  truth  and 
undiminished  loyalty  to  your  interests  is  still  your  beloved  associ- 
ate. Evidence  of  the  influence  of  these  men  and  of  the  poHcy 
that  they  helped  to  sustain  is  seen  in  the  remarkable  number  of 
the  sons  of  this  College  who,  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States, 
are  occupying  positions  of  honor  in  the  field  of  agricultural 
science  as  teachers  and  investigators. 

I  congratulate  you  on  the  record  of  fifty  years.  As  a  fitting 
commemoration  of  the  spirit  and  influence  of  your  honored 
institution  and  as  pointing  to  the  true  philosophy  of  all  education, 
I  would  that  in  passing  we  might  pause  to  erect  a  wayside  altar 
and,  in  characters  so  bold  that  he  who  runs  may  read,  leave  on 
it  this  inscription:     What  man  is  determines  what  man  achieves. 

The  suggestive  title  of  a  recent  book  written  by  a  distin- 
guished graduate  of  this  College  is  The  Outlook  to  Nature. 
This  volume,  that  fifty  years  ago  would  not  have  been  well  under- 
stood, is  symptomatic.  It  worthily  expresses  a  trend  of  thought 
in  education  and  in  practical  affairs  that  is  one  of  the  most  note- 
worthy features  of  the  present  time.  Man  is  just  now  very  busy 
discovering  himself  and  his  relations  to  the  physical  world.  He 
is  studying  and  mastering  his  environment  as  never  before. 
The  rise  of  institutions  of  investigation,  the  crowded  state  of 
university  and  college  courses  in  the  sciences  and  their  applica- 
tions, university-extension  courses  along  popular  scientific  lines, 
the  wide  attention  given  to  nature-study,  the  many  assemblages 
of  farmers  for  the  consideration  of  subjects  semi-scientific  in 
their  character,  and  indeed  the  knowledge  applied  to  our  whole 


I30        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

economic  progress,  are  convincing  evidences  that  the  outlook 
to  Nature's  methods  is  earnest  and  widespread. 

The  serious  side  of  this  world-wide  movement  is  the  conviction 
that  science  is  a  trustworthy  guide  in  directing  our  activities. 
In  all  ages  man  has  been  prone  to  seek  the  guidance  of  authority. 
He  listened  in  faith  to  the  prophets,  sought  the  counsel  of  the 
ancient  oracles,  accepted  the  dogmas  of  the  church  as  arbitrating 
all  truth,  both  temporal  and  spiritual,  and  has  been  the  dupe  of 
the  necromancer  and  the  faker.  But  now  we  have  turned  to 
science  and,  excepting  in  things  spiritual,  it  utters  the  final  word. 
To  be  sure  there  are  still  those  who  scoff  at  the  scientific  man  as 
unworthy  of  confidence,  sometimes  with  good  reason,  but  on  the 
other  hand,  many  trust  him  over  much  and  behave  toward  his 
utterances  as  though  they  are  infallible.  Comparatively  few 
use  knowledge  in  a  discriminating  way ;  indeed  few  are  qualified 
to  do  so,  for  in  this,  as  in  many  other  weighty  matters,  the  masses 
walk  by  faith  and  not  by  sight.  If,  then,  science  is  the  oracle 
of  today,  what  a  grave  responsibility  attends  its  teachings !  He 
who  assumes  to  interpret  Nature  must  reckon  not  only  with 
truth  but  with  his  fellow-man  whose  welfare  is  to  be  safeguarded. 

■  This  is  more  than  a  fancied  obligation.  Science  has  come  to 
be  closely  concerned  with  the  large  affairs  of  human  fife  and 
activity.  It  lays  its  compelling  hands  upon  Nature's  great  forces, 
directs  agriculture  and  the  industries,  designs  machinery,  builds 
bridges,  protects  health  and  prolongs  life,  feeds  the  intellect, 
is  a  theme  for  literature,  and  essays  to  invade  the  great  mysteries 
of  religion  and  the  future  fife.  Its  conclusions  guide  our  voca- 
tions, are  the  dicta  of  the  classroom,  and  are  proclaimed  as  truth 
from  the  platform  and  pulpit. 

How  intimately,  too,  has  science  laid  hold  upon  our  individual 
lives !  It  has  greatly  increased  our  comforts  and  intensified  our 
pleasures.  Whether  we  travel  abroad  or  abide  at  home,  we  are 
the  subjects  of  its  beneficence.  Indeed,  it  has  also  entered  into 
our  anxieties  concerning  our  most  serious  relations.     Wlien  we 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  131 

survey  our  morning  meal,  we  consider  in  terms  of  chemistry 
whether  the  repast  is  nutritively  sufficient  and  what  our  chances 
are  in  a  physiological  contest  with  its  germs  and  germicides. 
A  glass  of  water  on  the  railroad  train  is  taken  with  proper  scien- 
tific reservations  as  to  our  future  prospects  in  the  hands  of  the 
doctor  and  the  nurse.  The  wisdom  of  the  crucible  and  the 
microscope  have  even  been  invoked  in  the  domain  of  our 
rehgious  thought,  sometimes  to  assure  us  concerning  the  verities 
of  the  Christian  religion  and  sometimes  to  assuage  our  fears  as 
to  the  certainties  of  divine  retribution. 

But  what  is  science  and  from  whence  comes  its  authority? 
On  what  grounds  may  it  rationally  appeal  to  our  confidence  ? 
Those  of  us  who  accept  its  verdicts  as  a  part  of  our  intellectual 
equipment,  to  whose  activities  truth  is  a  blessing  and  error  a 
disaster,  whose  personal  and  material  well-being  may  be  jeopar- 
dized by  unsound  conclusions,  have  a  right  to  ask  these  questions 
and  ask  them  insistently.  I  crave  your  indulgence  while  I 
attempt  to  answer  them. 

Concise  definitions  of  science  are,  "knowledge  amassed, 
severely  tested,  co-ordinated  and  systematized,  specially  regard- 
ing those  wide  generalizations  called  the  laws  of  nature."  Or, 
what  is  simpler,  "knowledge  gained  and  verified  by  exact  obser- 
vation and  correct  thinking."  The  specifications,  "knowledge 
severely  tested,"  and  "knowledge  gained  and  verified  by  exact 
observation  and  correct  thinking,"  clearly  indicate,  not  only 
what  science  is,  but  what  it  is  not.  It  is  not  opinion,  it  is  not 
platform  speculation,  however  eloquent,  it  is  not  truth  diluted 
or  distorted  by  much  repetition,  it  is  not  magazine  exploitations 
of  the  new  and  wonderful  in  a  way  that  fires  the  imagination  but 
deceives  the  understanding,  it  is  not  theories  partially  supported 
by  data,  it  is  not  dangerous  conclusions  vitiated  by  confessed 
errors  or  propped  up  on  all  sides  by  "ifs"  and  "provided,"  it  is 
not  a  "report  of  progress"  that  shows  little  more  than  what  the 
investigator  hopes  some  time  to  prove  and  will  take  up  again 


132         MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

when  he  has  opportunity — true  science  is  none  of  these  things. 
Some  of  them  may  be  steps  in  its  direction,  but  they  do  not  con- 
stitute "severely  tested"  or  "verified"  knowledge.  So  obvious 
a  truth  would  scarcely  need  stating,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that 
our  scientific  literature  is  submerged  with  increasing  records  of 
imcomplete  and  inconclusive  observations.  It  is  a  sobering 
thought  that  only  a  minor  proportion  of  the  mass  of 
generalizations  that  are  published  endures  severe  scrutiny 
and  becomes  permanently  incorporated  into  the  body  of 
science. 

Scientific  generalizations  at  their  best  are  far  from  infalhble. 
Every  spot  of  truth  is  so  surrounded  by  unpenetrated,  and  there- 
fore unknown,  regions,  that  many  conclusions  are  properly  held 
to  be  tentative.  Even  some  deductions,  the  result  of  researches 
apparently  most  exhaustive,  that  are  stated  without  reservation 
or  modification,  are  abandoned  as  larger  knowledge  is  gained. 
A  most  striking  example  of  this  is  furnished  by  the  investigations 
as  to  the  sources  of  nitrogen  to  the  plant.  In  1857-58,  Lawes, 
Gilbert,  and  Pugh  carried  on  at  Rothamstead,  England,  what  has 
been  pointed  to  many  times  as  a  classical  research  on  the  ques- 
tion of  the  use  by  plants  of  the  free  nitrogen  of  the  air.  The 
inquiry  was  most  severe.  All  available  knowledge  was  brought  to 
bear  on  it,  and  the  conclusion  was  reached  that  uncombined  at- 
mospheric nitrogen  is  not  available  plant  food.  This  verdict  is 
now  reversed  by  later  evidence  of  the  soundest  and  most  incontro- 
vertible kind.  In  1857  knowledge  of  the  biological  activities  of 
the  soil  was  very  meager.  The  Rothamstead  investigators  worked 
with  steriUzed  earth,  not  realizing  that  they  were  thus  destroying 
the  germ  life  which,  as  we  now  know,  somehow  functions  in 
aiding  the  legumes  to  utiUze  atmospheric  nitrogen.  While  the 
plants  did  not  acquire  free  nitrogen  under  the  conditions  in- 
volved in  the  investigation,  these  conditions  were  made  greatly 
unlike  those  prevailing  in  nature.  Science  will  always  be  sub- 
ject to  such  reversals.     Its  progress  has  been,  and  always  will  be, 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  133 

a  series  of  advances  and  retrogressions,  with  the  outposts  of 
knowledge  steadily  advancing.  All  this  but  emphasizes  the 
supreme  importance  of  organizing  inquiry  on  a  thoroughgoing 
basis,  coupled  with  a  judicious  conservatism  in  the  formulation 
of  conclusions. 

If,  then,  what  we  call  science  is  a  mixture  of  truth  and  error, 
of  the  enduring  and  the  transient,  by  what  standards  shall  we 
measure  its  rehability?  You  will  agree  with  me,  I  am  sure, 
when  I  state  that  wise  critics  estimate  the  value  of  scientific 
deductions  by  their  authorship.  When  new  conclusions  are 
brought  to  our  attention  our  first  inquiry  is  for  the  name  of  the 
author,  and  three  factors  enter  into  our  judgment  of  him  and 
consequently  of  his  work.  These  factors  are,  (i)  his  personal 
equipment  for  investigation,  (2)  his  motives  or  point  of  view, 
and  (3)  his  environment. 

The  primary  consideration  is  the  man.  It  is  a  fundamental 
fact  which  should  receive  greater  emphasis,  that  what  is  presented 
to  us  for  truth  takes  form  in  the  human  mind  and  the  quaUty  of 
what  we  are  asked  to  believe  bears  a  close  relation  to  the  develop- 
ment and  equipment  of  the  producing  intellect.  Unripe  minds 
will  inevitably  produce  unripe  science,  and  while  intellectual 
conquests  are  won  of  which  we  are  proud  and  that  bear  ripened 
fruit,  much  so-caUed  science  is  being  forced  upon  our  attention 
today  that  is  as  unripe  and  unassimilable  as  the  proverbial  green 
persimmon. 

The  man-side  of  research  is  emphasized  at  this  time  because, 
in  my  judgment,  it  is  not  suSiciently  considered  in  our  develop- 
ment and  support  of  the  work  of  inquiry.  This  development 
must  begin  with  the  preparation  of  men  properly  fitted  to  con- 
duct research  that  is  worthy  of  the  name,  and  until  this  is  accom- 
plished other  means,  such  as  money,  buildings,  and  apparatus, 
are  ineflBciently  and  wastefuUy  applied.  Material  equipment 
is  subsidiary  to  the  intellectual.  The  normal  and  only  success- 
ful order  of  procedure  in  this,  as  in  every  other  effort,  is  first  an 


134         MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

efficient  instrument  and  then  the  means  for  utilizing  it.  Any 
other  sequence  is  irrational  and  unsafe. 

Again,  an  investigator  in  science  should  be  judged  by  his  con- 
trolling motives  or  point  of  view.  It  has  been  said,  with  what 
accuracy  I  do  not  know  and  shall  not  inquire,  that  an  English 
university  once  wrote  over  its  portals:  "No  useful  knowledge 
taught  here."  One  of  our  own  scientists  is  absurdly  re- 
ported to  have  expressed  a  regret  that  chemistry  was  ever  put 
to  money-making  uses.  Those  of  us  who  are  devotees  of  applied 
science  repel  such  sentiments  and,  having  right  on  our  side, 
declare  with  great  fervor  that  we  will  have  nothing  to  do  with 
knowledge  that  cannot  be  brought  into  the  service  of  humanity. 
We  are  glad  that  learning  has  escaped  from  the  monastery  into 
a  throbbing,  busy  world.  We  have  no  sympathy,  either,  with 
the  modern  monastic  spirit  sometimes  manifested  by  those  who 
claim  to  be  working  in  the  field  of  what  is  designated  as  pure 
science  and  affect  contempt  for  the  utiHtari  an. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  time  for  us  to  give  practical 
recognition  to  the  fact  that  great  victories  never  have  been  won 
in  science,  and  never  will  be,  when  knowledge  is  sought  merely 
that  it  may  be  weighed  in  the  balance  as  bullion.  The  investi- 
gator whose  foremost  thought  is  financial  advantage,  either  to 
himself  or  to  others,  has  an  inferior  point  of  \dew  and  is  devoid 
of  the  highest  inspirations.  I  know  that  some  good  people  of 
an  ultra-practical  frame  of  mind  take  exception  to  the  statement 
that  the  investigator  should  "seek  truth  for  truth's  sake,"  and  de- 
clare that  the  controlling  point  of  view  should  be  that  of  utility. 
Granting  that  knowledge  reaches  its  best  estate  when  it  serves  hu- 
man needs,  it  is  still  to  be  said  that  inquiry  is  not  on  safe  ground 
unless  the  dominant  impulse  is  to  know  the  truth.  The  true 
scientific  mind  is  the  truth-loving,  truth-seeking  mind.  He  who 
possesses  it  is  dominated  by  a  desire  for  knowledge  that  leads 
him  to  sacrifice,  if  necessary,  opportunities  for  power,  distinction, 
wealth,  or  pleasure.     In  these  days  of  money-making  invention, 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  135 

rather  than  of  a  desire  for  larger  intellectual  vision,  when  the 
imaginations  of  ambitious  men  are  dazzled  by  the  opportunities 
for  financial  gain,  we  need  a  renaissance  of  the  spirit  which  in- 
spired and  upheld  the  fathers  of  science  in  the  classic  researches 
that  have  laid  the  foundations  of  modern  knowledge.  Until 
this  comes  in  a  greater  measure  than  we  now  have  it,  we  may 
not  reasonably  hope  for  the  solution  of  many  of  the  great  un- 
solved problems  of  agriculture. 

In  the  third  place,  research  efforts  take  color  and  value  from 
the  environment  in  which  they  are  carried  on.  No  investigator 
is  likely  to  be  immune  to  the  influences  that  surround  him,  and 
there  are  modifying  conditions,  the  presence  of  which  must  be 
regarded  as  essential  to  the  highest  type  of  inquiry.  If,  as  is 
obviously  true,  science  is  an  individual  product,  the  initiative 
and  liberty  of  the  individual  should  be  safeguarded.  The  re- 
search worker  must  be  allowed,  within  reasonable  limits,  to 
follow  his  inspirations  and  enthusiasms  in  his  own  way.  Inves- 
tigation that  is  too  highly  organized  into  a  mechanical  system, 
so  that  duties  are  assigned  as  in  the  routine  of  an  administrative 
department,  is  infertile.  It  is  a  station  worker's  inspirations 
rather  than  his  director's  commands  that  are  fruitful.  Science 
that  is  worth  anything  will  never  be  ground  out  by  machinery, 
however  costly  and  elaborate  the  mechanism  may  be.  Neither 
should  the  investigating  mind  be  subject  to  the  coercion  of  public 
sentiment  or  the  demands  of  expediency.  Its  operation  should 
be  carefully  guarded  in  an  atmosphere  of  quiet  and  unbiased 
reflection.  This  should  also  be  an  atmosphere  of  deliberation  and 
not  of  haste.  New  knowledge  that  is  reliable  is  reached  with  ex- 
ceeding slowness  for  it  is  wrought  out  only  by  immense  labor  and 
with  untiring  patience.  Perhaps  what  I  have  said  concerning  the 
authority  of  science  may  be  summarized  and  made  more  specific 
by  the  statement  that  the  knowledge  most  trustworthy  is  that 
which  proceeds  from  the  domain  of  conservative  scholarship — 
such  scholarship,  if  you  please,  as  is  bred  in  the  atmosphere  of 


136    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

our  best  colleges  and  universities.  Despite  the  dangers  from 
academic  dogmatism,  it  is  in  such  surroundings  that  we  now 
generally  find  the  most  critical  and  impartial  judgments  and 
the  most  careful  deliberation  in  the  formulation  of  conclusions. 

The  conditions  essential  to  effective  inquiry  have  been  briefly 
outHned  at  this  time  in  order  that  they  may  be  compared  with 
those  under  which  agricultural  research  is  undertaken  in  the 
United  States.  But  before  such  a  comparison  is  made,  I  would 
like  to  meet  one  thought  that  I  suspect  is  already  in  your  minds 
concerning  what  has  been  said.  Doubtless  your  mental  comment 
is  that  the  specifications  laid  down  are  ideal  and  at  present  are 
unattainable  by  the  institutions  here  represented.  If  this  be 
true,  then  so  much  the  worse  for  the  prospects  of  scientific  prog- 
ress among  us.  When  the  temperature  necessary  for  the  hatch- 
ing of  eggs  in  an  incubator  is  unattainable  in  a  given  instance, 
why,  the  eggs  will  not  hatch.  But  I  do  not  concede  that  there 
is  anything  extreme  or  impracticable  in  these  specifications. 
They  have  existed,  and  they  exist  now,  in  some  places  and  it  is 
only  where  they  are  found  that  research  is  in  its  best  estate. 

In  considering  the  present  status  of  agricultural  inquiry  in 
the  United  States,  we  are  impressed  first  of  all  by  the  great 
magnitude  of  the  effort  that,  according  to  the  language  of  the 
laws  authorizing  it,  is  known  under  a  variety  of  terms  such  as 
"scientific  investigation  and  experiment,"  "original  researches," 
"diffusion  of  useful  information,"  and  similar  phraseology. 
In  1906  the  experiment  stations  expended  nearly  two  milhon 
dollars.  Assuming  that  of  the  seven  million  dollars  appropriated 
to  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  60  per  cent,  was 
assigned  to  those  bureaus  engaged  in  the  work  of  inquiry  and 
demonstration,  we  find  that  in  1 905-6  pver  six  millions  of  dollars 
was  applied  by  the  federal  and  state  governments  to  the  pro- 
motion of  agricultural  science.  This  is  outside  the  funds  used 
by  the  land-grant  colleges  in  the  work  of  instruction.  The 
number  of  persons  now  employed  in  the  expenditure  of  this  vast 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  137 

sum  of  money  is  not  less  than  four  thousand.  Millions  of  copies 
of  bulletins  and  reports  are  now  issued  annually  by  the  experi- 
ment stations,  and  the  mass  of  Hterature  sent  out  by  the  federal 
department  is  something  prodigious.  Department  and  station 
men  are  found  frequently  on  the  platform  at  agricultural  con- 
ventions and  farmers'  institutes,  and  their  contributions  to 
agricultural  literature  in  the  way  of  books  and  newspaper  dis- 
cussion are  extensive.  History  records  no  other  instance  of  an 
organized  attempt  to  aid  agriculture  or  any  other  industry  on  a 
scale  so  magnificent  in  its  proportions  and  so  far-reaching  in  its 
results. 

But  in  all  candor  it  must  be  confessed  that,  whatever  may 
have  been  the  phraseology  of  law  or  of  common  speech  in  char- 
acterizing this  movement,  it  has  been  mainly  an  effort,  not  of 
research,  but  of  the  exploitation  of  existing  knowledge.  We  have 
not  reached  far  into  the  unknown,  and  although  important  new 
truths  have  been  brought  to  light,  our  efforts  at  inquiry  have 
neither  produced  results  nor  commanded  the  respect  of  the 
scientific  world  to  an  extent  commensurate  with  the  generous 
means  appHed.  During  the  past  twenty-five  years  we  have  been 
busy  instead  with  much  agricultural  speaking  and  writing.  The 
chemist  has  been  called  from  his  crucible,  the  botanist  from  his 
microscope,  the  editor  from  his  desk,  and  the  farmer  from  his 
plow,  to  aid  in  spreading  the  gospel  of  an  agriculture  based  on 
exact  knowledge  into  almost  every  hamlet  in  the  land.  The 
unknown,  but  greatly  inadequate,  facts  and  principles  of  science 
have  been  exhibited  with  kaleidoscopic  effects  and  have  been 
turned  inside  out  and  upside  down  in  order  to  meet  conditions 
almost  numberless  in  their  variety. 

Doubtless  it  may  be  argued  in  a  way  more  or  less  convincing 
that  the  diffusion  of  existing  knowledge  was  necessarily  the  first 
step  in  bringing  the  people  in  harmony  with,  and  to  the  support 
of,  the  kind  of  educational  and  research  work  that  is  our  goal. 
There  is  much  to  be  said  for  this  position,  but  we  must  not  forget 


138         MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

that  the  largest  asset  of  the  priests  of  agriculture  is  their  igno- 
rance. Fifty  years  ago  we  began  to  import  German  science, 
and,  with  a  due  respect  for  a  foreign  product  and  because  we 
didn't  know  any  better,  we  accepted  it  aU  without  modification 
or  even  adulteration  as  appHcable  to  the  agriculture  of  this  new 
and  rapidly  developing  nation.  Some  of  us  elder  brethren 
remember  with  what  confidence  we  advised  the  farmer  as  to 
rations  for  plants  and  animals,  for  had  not  the  Herr  Doctor 
Namenlos  worked  it  all  out  and  was  he  not  authority?  But 
since  those  days  we  have  become  one  of  the  great  powers  and  we 
now  have  a  right  to  some  things  of  our  own,  even  our  ignorance. 
We  are  seeing  with  greater  distinctness  every  year  that  the 
more  complex  and  more  important  problems  of  agriculture  are 
still  unsolved,  and  that  because  of  this  our  utterances  to  the 
practical  man  are  still  lame  and  halting.  Do  you  doubt  this 
statement  and  ask  what  these  problems  are  ?  Who  of  us  is  able 
to  stand  on  his  feet  and  define  fertihty,  or  even  demonstrate  the 
relative  value  of  its  various  factors?  Do  we  not  often  quail 
before  the  simple  and  direct  questions  of  the  farmer  when  he 
seeks  information  as  to  the  production  of  crops  and  sometimes 
return  him  answers  bedecked  with  gHttering  generalities  ?  We 
say  much,  and  not  too  much,  about  the  wonderful  value  of  the 
legumes.  Clover  and  alfalfa  have  been  the  most  valuable  asset 
of  the  institute  speaker  and  yet  we  are  in  profound  ignorance  as 
to  how  much  nitrogen  they  take  from  the  atmosphere  when  they 
are  grown  under  the  ordinary  conditions  of  farm  practice.  Once 
we  had  the  German  standard  rations  for  farm  animals  and  our 
ex-cathedra  formulae  were  convenient  and  much  admired.  Now 
we  have  practically  lost  these  standards  in  the  misty  mazes  of 
new  data  and  nutrition  problems  still  harass  our  minds.  Con- 
trol of  results  in  the  breeding  of  plants  and  animals  is  still  an 
unsolved  riddle.  (This  statement  should  be  made,  I  suppose, 
with  an  apology  to  the  mathematical  formulae  of  the  disciples 
of  Mendel.)     Tuberculosis  in  farm  animals  is  an  unconquered 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  139 

scourge.  Do  not  say  that  there  are  no  great  agricultural  prob- 
lems left  for  us  to  attack.  They  are  both  great  and  many,  and 
their  successful  study  demands  investigation  of  wide  scope  and 
masterful  abihty.  We  should  not  feel  that  because  agricultural 
science  deals  with  things  common  and  famiUar  its  problems  are 
easy  and  may  be  solved  by  correspondingly  easy  methods.  All 
that  is  required  for  progress  in  any  other  field  of  inquiry  what- 
ever in  the  way  of  efficiency  of  organization,  scientific  acumen, 
and  severity  of  method  is  required  here. 

In  repeating  the  assertion  that  we  have  failed  to  grapple  with 
the  large  problems  of  agricultural  science,  as  has  been  our  privi- 
lege and  opportunity,  do  not  understand  me  as  disparaging  the 
results  of  your  efforts.  You  and  your  predecessors  have  been 
engaged  for  the  past  thirty  years  in  a  noble  enterprise  which  you 
have  loyally  sustained.  It  is  a  common  remark  from  those  who 
come  in  contact  with  this  body  for  the  first  time  that  it  is  made 
up  of  men  of  unusually  earnest  endeavor,  who  are  evidently 
seeking  most  conscientiously  to  do  the  work  that  they  have  in 
hand,  and  those  who  have  frequented  these  meetings  for  many 
years  know  that  such  a  comment  is  entirely  just.  Much  has 
been  accomphshed.  It  is  generally  conceded  that  no  instance 
is  on  record  where  technical  knowledge  has  been  brought  into 
such  close  and  practical  touch  with  the  people  as  has  been  done 
for  our  agriculture  during  the  past  twenty-five  years.  The 
comprehensive  organization  of  the  effort  and  the  sympathetic 
relation  of  the  various  agencies  involved,  from  the  university 
to  the  home  reading-course,  are  worthy  of  our  admiration.  The 
uplift  of  agricultural  thought  and  practice  has  been  great  and  has 
abundantly  justified  the  new  democracy  of  education.  I  am 
convinced,  nevertheless,  that,  as  was  inevitable  under  new  and 
untried  conditions,  some  serious  mistakes  have  been  made  in  our 
attempts  at  research.  But  just  now  we  are  assuredly  on  the 
verge  of  substantial  gain  in  the  purposes  and  methods  of  our 
work  and  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  glance  briefly  at  some  of  the 


I40    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

conditions,  not  yet  entirely  removed,  that  are  inimical  to  scientific 
efficiency  and  progress. 

The  quality  of  work  accomplished  in  agricultural  science 
in  the  United  States  has  been  menaced,  and  still  is,  by  the 
extraordinary  growth  of  institutions  for  agricultural  investigation. 
Comparatively  few  persons  outside  of  those  directly  interested 
appreciate  how  remarkable  this  development  has  been.  Up  to 
1887  there  had  been  established  in  the  United  States  only  seven- 
teen experiment  stations,  no  one  of  which  was  receiving  anything 
more  than  meager  support.  The  passage,  in  1887,  of  the  Hatch 
Act,  granting  $15,000  to  each  state,  or  a  total  of  upward  of 
$600,000  for  the  maintenance  of  agricultural  experiment  stations, 
resulted  in  the  prompt  organization  of  twenty-nine  more  stations, 
making  forty-six  in  all.  This  required  the  immediate  employ- 
ment by  the  Hatch  stations  of  nearly  four  hundred  men,  a 
large  part  of  whom  had  not  previously  been  engaged  in  the  work 
of  inquiry.  The  number  of  stations  is  now  fifty-five,  which 
employ  nearly  eight  hundred  persons  and  expend  annually 
nearly  $2,000,000. 

During  this  time  the  development  of  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  has  been  even  more  remarkable.  In  1888 
the  congressional  appropriation  to  this  department  was  $1,019,- 
219;  in  1900,  $3,006,022,  and  in  1907,  $7,175,690.  From  June 
30,  1897,  to  July  I,  1906,  the  number  of  employees  of  this  de- 
partment has  increased  from  2,043  ^^  6,242.  It  is  approximately 
accurate  to  say  that  over  4,000  men  employed  by  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  and  the  experiment  stations  are  giving  their 
time  to  the  work  of  research  and  demonstration,  in  the  support 
of  which  between  six  and  seven  million  dollars  are  annually 
expended.  This  marvelous  development  along  one  line  of 
effort  has  taken  place  within  the  past  twenty  years. 

Unquestionably  the  quality,  if  not  the  integrity,  of  scientific 
conclusions,  has  been  endangered  by  this  unprecedented  enlarge- 
ment of  funds.    In  the  first  place,  research  efforts  of  a  high  type 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  141 

are  not  made  to  order.  They  are  an  evolution  that  is  by  no 
means  rapid.  We  say,  and  with  truth,  that  age  alone  brings  to 
a  college  the  atmosphere  most  congenial  to  educational  results 
of  the  highest  value,  and  institutions  of  research  develop  and 
ripen  no  less  slowly.  Moreover,  a  large  body  of  real  investiga- 
tors is  not  summoned  in  a  day  or  in  a  year  from  among  the  mass 
of  educated  men.  The  real  investigator  must  have  what  we 
speak  of  as  initiative,  fundamentally  a  natural  quality  that  has 
been  trained  and  developed  in  an  atmosphere  of  scientific  inquiry. 
Such  men  are  not  abundant.  They  are  slowly  gathered  about 
any  given  center  and  their  selection  calls  for  the  divining-rod 
rather  than  the  dragnet. 

Again,  investigators  in  certain  fields  of  agricultural  research 
should  be  something  more  than  mere  technicians  in  science. 
They  should  be  ripened  men  who  see  relations  broadly,  men 
who  know  affairs  as  well  as  principles.  To  be  sure,  agricultural 
problems  relate  to  the  common  things  of  everyday  life,  but  this 
in  no  way  lessens  their  depth  and  complexity  or  the  severity 
and  thoroughness  of  the  methods  necessary  to  correct 
conclusions. 

The  difficulty,  then,  where  endowments  for  research  have  in- 
creased by  million-dollar  steps,  has  been  to  secure  a  correspond- 
ing equipment  of  men  with  a  genius  for  observation,  who  have 
ripened  into  usefulness,  especially  when  we  have  so  few  institu- 
tions that  are  giving  adequate  training  for  scientific  inquiry  in 
agricultural  directions.  The  fact  is,  funds  applied  to  agricultural 
research  have  at  times  been  increased  so  fast  and  on  such  a 
tremendous  scale,  though  never  beyond  the  needs  of  agriculture, 
as  to  exceed  the  possibilities  of  a  normal  and  sound  scientific 
growth  correspondingly  rapid  and  extensive.  It  is  my  judg- 
ment, which  you  may  estimate  as  a  purely  personal  point  of  view 
if  you  like,  that  agriculture  has  no  right  to  ask  for  larger  sums  of 
public  money  to  be  used  in  the  study  of  its  problems  until  there 
are  available  more  men  who  are  adequately  equipped  for  the 


142    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

work  of  inquiry.  In  our  enthusiasms  we  have  proceeded,  I  am 
coniinced,  to  create  a  condition  that  is  out  of  balance.  We 
should  bring  the  situation  into  balance  by  giving  more  attention 
to  the  development  of  men. 

Another  condition,  more  or  less  unfortunate,  is  that  agri- 
cultural research  work  is  largely  dependent  upon  annual  legis- 
lative appropriations,  either  national  or  state.  The  legislative 
mind,  for  most  excellent  reasons,  is  peculiarly  sensitive  to  popu- 
lar sentiment.  It  also  very  generally  holds  the  quid  pro  quo  point 
of  view.  The  query  in  legislative  halls  is  quite  naturally  apt 
to  be,  not  "What  is  truth?"  but  "What  is  truth  worth  in  com- 
mercial units?"  A  closely  related  fact  is  that  the  agricultural 
public  is  not  always  patient  or  discriminating.  Only  investi- 
gators themselves  understand  the  length  of  time  and  the  per- 
sistent effort  necessary  to  the  formulation  of  sound  conclusions, 
and  because  a  constituency  that  has  no  adequate  conception  of 
what  research  involves  complains  to  its  representatives  in  the 
legislature  that  the  appropriations  for  agricultural  investigation 
are  not  producing  equivalent  values,  the  investigator  is  placed 
in  a  position  of  defending  himself  before  a  jury  that  does  not 
understand  him.  The  condition  of  expectancy  that  prevails 
on  the  part  of  the  public  that  it  must  have  results  of  immediate 
value  to  practice,  and  on  the  part  of  various  institutions  that  they 
must  have  public  support,  has  been  an  element  most  dangerous 
to  the'quality  and  integrity  of  our  work. 

As  among  the  remaining  factors  related  to  agricultural  in- 
vestigation in  the  United  States,  permit  me  to  refer  briefly  to 
the  much  discussed  adjustment  of  teaching  and  investigation  in 
its  bearing  upon  the  efficiency  of  our  experiment  stations.  There 
is  an  unquestioned  advantage  to  an  experiment  station,  we  all 
admit,  in  locating  it  in  a  college  or  university  environment, 
provided  the  relations  established  are  of  the  right  sort.  The 
college  atmosphere  is  essentially  speculative  and  is  conducive  to 
reflection  and  inquiry,  or  should  be,  and  in  a  community  of 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  143 

teachers  and  students  we  generally  find  a  desirable  intellectual 
and  social  stimulus. 

But  the  record  of  the  past  twenty-five  years  does  not  justify 
us  in  expecting  a  fruitful  research  effort  when  teaching  of  the 
kind  and  amount  that  must  be  done  in  most  of  our  land-grant 
colleges  is  a  part  of  the  duty  of  members  of  a  station  staff.  It  is 
conceivable  that  giving  a  few  lectures  on  advanced  subjects 
might  be  a  distinct  advantage  to  a  research  worker,  but  this  can- 
not reasonably  be  claimed  for  routine  instruction  in  fundamental 
subjects.  Observation  shows  that  classroom  work  of  this 
character  will  inevitably  claim  the  first  place  in  the  use  of  the 
teacher's  time  and  energy.  It  is  useless  to  ignore  the  plain  re- 
sults of  experience.  The  fact  that  this  combination  of  duties 
seems  for  the  most  part  to  have  been  unavoidable  in  our  experi- 
ment station  organization  may  excuse  the  situation  but  does  not 
nulHfy  its  effects. 

It  is  of  little  avail,  however,  to  dwell  on  the  past,  excepting 
as  we  glean  the  wisdom  of  experience.  Our  problems  are  with 
the  future.  As  I  see  it,  the  further  development  of  agricultural 
research  in  the  United  States  Hes  primarily  with  the  colleges  and 
universities  in  the  preparation  of  men  and,  secondarily,  with  the 
extent  and  conditions  of  the  endowment  of  such  research.  Con- 
cerning this  secondary  factor,  Httle  will  be  said  at  this  time 
beyond  the  remark  that  it  will  be  fortunate  when  our  research 
efforts  shall  be  farther  removed  from  the  disturbing  influences 
of  an  indiscriminating  pubUc  sentiment  and  the  uncertainties  of 
legislation.  We  have  no  assurance  that  either  education  or 
research  will  develop  normally  or  symmetrically  if  the  purposes 
and  methods  of  the  classroom  and  laboratory  are  to  be  standard- 
ized by  a  public  conception  of  what  is  their  immediate  vocational 
or  commercial  value. 

The  present  fundamental  need,  however,  is  for  more  young 
men  endowed  with  a  love  of  learning,  of  scholarly  habit,  and 
with  integrity  of  mind  and  heart,  whose  ambition  is  not  for 


144        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

notoriety  but  for  the  conquest  of  truth,  and  who,  with  more 
thought  for  service  than  for  salary,  are  anxious  to  aid  in  laying 
broad  and  deep  the  foundations  of  human  thought  and  activity. 
For  this  reason,  in  the  progress  of  agricultural  knowledge,  I 
place  the  influence  of  the  teaching  institutions  as  the  primary 
factor,  because,  when  there  exists  a  body  of  men  really  possessed 
by  the  research  impulse  and  with  adequate  training,  inquiry 
will  not  wait  on  legislative  authority  and  support,  but  will  proceed 
even  under  adverse  circumstances.  Whether  the  land-grant 
colleges  are  to  train  such  men  sufficient  in  numbers  and  ability 
to  meet  the  demand  is  yet  to  be  determined.  So  far  these  institu- 
tions have  appealed  for  public  support,  chiefly  on  the  ground 
of  educating  farmers,  and  have  pointed  to  farmer  graduates 
and  crowded  short  winter  courses  as  a  sure  way  of  convincing 
the  popular  mind  that  public  funds  are  successfully  appUed  to 
the  supposedly  chiefest  aim  of  agricultural  education  and  are 
not  being  exhausted  in  the  labyrinths  of  learning  characterized 
as  useless. 

It  is  a  serious  question  whether  we  are  right  in  our  educational 
plans  when  we  place  almost  the  entire  emphasis  upon  the 
commercial  or  business  side  of  agriculture  and  the  industries, 
or  whether  in  doing  this  we  are  promoting  the  highest  utiHty 
of  agricultural  and  industrial  education.  Is  it  not  now 
the  privilege  and  duty  of  at  least  some  of  the  colleges  and 
universities  here  represented  more  fully  to  nourish  and 
develop  the  spirit  of  inquiry?  Should  you  not  dehberately 
set  about  recognizing  and  encouraging  scientific  initiative 
among  your  students  and  organizing  courses  of  instruction 
that  shall  give  a  substantial  preparation  for  the  work  of 
investigation  ? 

A  New  England  college  president,  having  in  mind,  doubtless, 
the  older  institutions  of  learning,  once  expressed  the  half-formed 
conviction  that  "the  college  is  farther  from  the  market-place  than 
is  the  church."    It  was  evidently  his  thought  that  in  the  college,  as 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  145 

nowhere  else,  are  nourished  and  cherished  the  highest  intellectual 
and  moral  ideas. 

But  here  are  institutions  with  new  purposes  and  new  rela- 
tions. On  their  doorposts  is  written  the  word  "practical,"  and 
in  their  classrooms  the  student  is  asked  to  consider  the  vocational 
side  of  Ufe  and  he  learns  of  machinery  and  slaughter-houses 
and  railroads  and  markets ;  in  short,  he  learns  of  all  that  man  is 
doing,  rather  than  of  what  man  is  thinking  and  dreaming  and 
hoping.  Is  the  future  investigator  with  his  imagination  fired  by 
ambitions  for  larger  knowledge  to  come  out  of  such  an  environ- 
ment ?  We  may  well  be  solicitous  whether  the  spirit  of  learning 
can  survive  in  centers  of  thought  where  facts  and  principles  are 
so  constantly  weighed  and  measured  with  reference  to  their 
material  or  commercial  value.  It  is  a  serious  matter  if  the  new 
education  that  is  now  attracting  to  it  thousands  of  our  young 
men  is  to  serve  chiefly  in  commerciaHzing,  rather  than  intellec- 
tualizing,  the  most  virile  manhood  of  a  nation  that  is  already 
grossly  materiaUstic. 

Friends  and  fellow-workers,  these  problems  are  your  prob- 
lems. Now  that  an  apparent  transition  in  the  aims  and  meth- 
ods of  education  is  in  progress,  the  institutions  you  represent, 
founded  as  they  are  upon  the  broadest  possible  basis  of  educa- 
tional function  and  leading  as  they  do  an  invasion  into  new  and 
imtried  fields,  occupy  a  position  of  critical  responsibility.  May 
you  possess  such  wisdom,  and  such  initiative  tempered  by  the 
lessons  of  experience,  that  your  efforts  will  advance  the  intelli- 
gence and  prosperity  of  the  farm  and  shop,  promote  the  love 
of  learning,  and  uphold  the  standards  of  the  scholar. 


ALUMNI  DAY  EXERCISES 
THURSDAY 


THE  ALUMNI  BUSINESS  MEETINGS 

The  preponderance  of  the  old  alumni,  in  influence  at  least, 
came  out  clearly  in  the  subjects  which  absorbed  the  interest  of 
both  the  forenoon  and  afternoon  session  of  the  Association. 
Easily  foremost  of  these  subjects  was  the  preservation  of  old 
''College  Hall."  The  rumor  had  circulated  that  this  building 
was  to  be  removed  to  make  way  for  a  new  one,  and  earnest  pro- 
tests were  voiced  from  all  sides. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  the  affection  of  the  old  gradu- 
ate for  this  building  when  we  remember  that  until  the  middle 
8o's  it  was  by  far  the  most  important  building  upon  the  campus. 
It  contained  the  offices  of  the  secretary  and  the  president,  and 
the  library,  chapel,  and  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
rooms  were  within  it,  as  well  as  society  and  fraternity  rooms,  in 
addition  to  its  designed  use  as  a  place  for  laboratories  and  class- 
rooms. The  building  having  been  so  largely  the  center  of  the 
old  graduates'  interest,  the  frequent  expression  that  it  was  the 
"one  landmark  which  reminded  the  early  student  and  graduate 
of  the  early  days  at  the  college"  was  well  within  bounds.  The 
resolution  which  a  special  committee  reported,  asking  the  state 
Board  of  Agriculture  to  retain  this  landmark,  was  therefore 
unanimously  adopted. 

The  "Alumni  Advisory  Council"  was  easily  the  topic  of 
second  interest  to  the  members  of  the  Association.  The  institu- 
tion of  this  new  college  body  has  been  somewhat  belated,  the 
idea  having  had  its  beginning  fully  ten  years  ago.  The  reso- 
lution of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture  inviting  the  establish- 
ment of  this  council  shows  the  designed  sphere  of  the  council  and 
is  as  follows : 

RESOLUTIONS 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  unanimous  belief  of  the  members  of  this  board 
that  the  continued  prosperity  and  growth  of  this  College  will,  of  necessity, 

149 


ISO    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

be  largely  dependent  upon  the  loyal  and  practical  support  given  it  by  the 
alumni;  and  that  the  best  means  of  securing  such  support  is  to  bring  about 
a  feeling  of  earnest  and  active  co-operation  between  the  state  board  and 
faculty,  and  the  alumni.     Be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  manifested  in  the  foregoing 
resolution,  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture  hereby  suggests  and  recommends 
that  at  the  business  meeting  of  the  alumni,  to  be  held  at  the  College  on 
June  17,  there  be  elected  from  the  alumni  an  advisory  council  of  six  mem- 
bers, w^hose  duty  it  shall  be  to  confer  together  from  time  to  time  upon 
the  general  welfare  of  the  institution.     And  finally,  Be  it 

Resolved  by  this  board  in  regular  session,  that  v/e  hereby  extend  to 
such  advisory  council,  as  soon  as  it  shall  be  organized,  an  invitation  to 
meet  with  us,  at  least  once  each  year,  and  as  much  oftener  as  said  council 
shall  consider  desirable,  for  the  purpose  of  mutual  conference  upon  all 
matters  pertaining  to  the  work  of  the  College. 

This  ten-year-old  invitation  from  the  board  was  heartily 
accepted  by  the  Alumni  Association  and  directions  were  voted 
as  to  the  method  by  which  the  new  council  should  be  constituted. 
Prolonged  tardiness  on  the  part  of  the  alumni  in  creating  this 
new  board  may  prove  indeed  quite  other  than  ominous  to  its 
future  usefulness.  The  celerity  with  which  the  first  council, 
consisting  of  R.  S.  Baker  1889,  Eugene  Davenport  1878,  Wil- 
liam Prudden  1878,  George  J.  Jenks  1889,  E.  N.  Pagleson  1889, 
and  L.  W.  Watkins  1893,  has  organized  for  its  purposes  fairly 
atones  for  the  delay. 

Subordinate  in  the  interest  which  they  aroused  but  scarcely 
so  in  importance  were  the  additional  topics  which  aroused 
discussion.  Chief  among  them  were  the  desirabiUty  of  a  per- 
manent alumni  secretary  to  be  designated  by  the  Board  of 
Agriculture,  the  preparation  of  a  history  of  the  College  through 
the  authority  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture,  and  the  appointment 
of  a  memorial  fund  committee  by  the  Advisory  Council,  all  of 
which  were  recommended  by  the  Alumni  Association. 

A  review  of  the  proceedings  of  these  notable  meetings  may  close 
perhaps  in  no  better  way  than  with  the  final  resolution  proposed 
by  the  committee  on  resolutions  and  adopted  by  the  association : 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  151 

That  the  alumni  congratulate  the  people  of  the  state  that  the  institution 
has  closed  so  long  a  period  of  honorable  history.  We  all  earnestly  hope 
and  believe  that,  while  encouraging  all  forms  of  healthy  activity,  from  the 
athletic  field  to  the  forum  of  practical  affairs,  the  influence  of  the  Michigan 
Agricultural  College  Vr'ill  always  be  for  the  highest  attainable  scholarship, 
upon  which  alone  the  enduring  reputation  of  the  institution  may  rest. 

The  alumni  officers  for  the  ensuing  triennial  period  are : 

EXECUTIVE 

Judge  W.  L.  Carpenter  1875,  President 
Professor  P.  M.  Chamberlain  1888,  Vice-President 
Professor  W.  O.  Hedrick  1891,  Secretary -Treasurer 

LITERARY 
Hon.  C.  W.  Garfield  1870,  Orator 
Mrs.  Katherine  C.  Briggs  1893,  P^^^ 
Mr.  G.  L.  Stewart  1895,  Historian 
Mr.  S.  B.  Lilly  1907,  Necrologist 


ALUMNI  LUNCHEON 

Thursday  Noon 

One  of  the  most  pleasant  events  of  the  week,  as  far  as  the 
alumni  were  concerned,  was  the  luncheon  served  in  the  big  tent 
on  Thursday  at  noon  to  about  1,200  of  the  alumni  and  old  stu- 
dents. Nothing  elaborate  in  a  menu  was  attempted,  and  yet  an 
abundance  of  things  good  to  eat  was  served.  It  was  not  eat- 
ables themselves,  however,  that  made  the  luncheon  such  a 
decided  success.  The  fact  that  1,200  former  college  students 
and  chums  were  eating  together,  grouped  in  classes,  talking, 
joking,  singing,  and  in  these  various  ways  living  over  again  the 
good  old  college  days  in  one  great  family  picnic,  was  what  made 
this  feature  of  the  program  such  an  overwhelming  success. 

On  entering  the  tent  alumni  were  informed:  "Classes  are 
numbered,"  and  members  of  each  class  found  a  placard  con- 
spicuously planted  as  a  rallying-center  for  them.  In  this  way 
with  ease  and  without  the  slightest  confusion  the  old  students 
were  placed  in  an  atmosphere  entirely  congenial  and  among 
old  classmates,  some  of  whom  had  not  been  seen  since  the 
college  days.  Many  long-time  mysteries  were  cleared  up,  and 
the  missing  links  in  many  college  romances  were  forged  into  the 
chain.  The  folly  of  serving  beer  in  a  dormitory  was  one  of  the 
topics  of  discussion  in  the  1883  camp,  and  1884  was  still  chuck- 
ling over  the  way  they  put  1883  in  the  hole  on  the  faculty  in- 
vestigation over  Knapper's  buggy.  Tallman's  pear-swiping 
expedition  was  brought  to  Hght  by  1895,  ^^'^  "How  a  Lamb 
Was  Led  to  (the)  Drink"  was  under  discussion  in  the  camp  of 
1898.  What  became  of  the  college  bell  will  be  revealed  in  1957, 
along  with  other  mysteries  that  develop  and  become  the  life- 
history  of  the  institution,  and  are  of  necessity  milestones  in  the 
lives  of  the  student  population. 

152 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  1 53 

The  paper  napkins  with  the  likeness  of  Dr.  Beal,  the  surviving 
member  of  "the  Old  Guard,"  are  treasures,  and  the  menu  book- 
let with  its  reminders  of  dear  old  Dr.  Kedzie  and  of  the  college 
presidents  was  a  pleasing  feature  of  the  occasion  and  is  a  valuable 
souvenir  of  the  joUy,  rollicking  days  that  have  passed  into  his- 
tory, days  in  the  institution  which  we  aU  love. 

How  many  of  us  will  meet  again  on  the  old  campus  at  the 
next  milestone?  Assuredly  not  all  and  mayhap  not  many; 
but,  old  or  young,  let  us  all  resolve  firmly  that  "some  time  we'll 
wander  back  again." 


ALUMNI  LITERARY  EXERCISES 
THURSDAY  AFTERNOON 


THE  ALUMNUS  AS  A  CITIZEN 


RUSSELL  ALLEN  CLARK,  1876 


In  speaking  of  the  alumnus  as  a  citizen,  one  must  accord  to 
him  a  plane  above  that  occupied  by  the  average  citizen,  or  by  the 
community  as  a  whole.  I  think  the  correctness  of  this  assertion 
needs  no  demonstration. 

Every  alumnus  has  incurred  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  his  Alma 
Mater,  which  has  looked  after  his  needs,  heeded  his  pecuUarities, 
expanded  his  special  faculties,  rounded  out  his  nature,  and  made 
him  a  cultured,  self -poised,  resourceful  citizen. 

His  first  duty,  therefore,  is  to  repay  that  debt  of  gratitude  to 
his  Alma  Mater.  I  fancy  if  we  should  ever  attempt  to  compute 
the  cost  to  this  commonwealth  in  providing  each  of  us  with  our 
diploma,  that  we  would  be  amazed  at  the  magnitude  of  the 
figures. 

While  this  seems  like  a  great  burst  of  philanthropy  on  the 
part  of  the  commonwealth,  yet  it  is  largely  a  selfish  movement 
on  its  part,  as  it  makes  this  investment  with  an  eye  single  to  the 
fact  that  such  an  investment  will  raise  the  standard  of  citizen- 
ship as  a  whole,  and  thereby  decrease  the  expense  of  policing 
the  state,  decrease  the  number  of  penal  and  pauper  institutions, 
increase  the  value  and  productiveness  of  each  man's  labor,  and 
add  to  the  safety  and  security  of  human  life,  and  to  the  joy  and 
pleasure  of  living. 

If  each  alumnus  is  true  to  the  obligations  thus  imposed  on  him, 
he  will  undertake  earnestly  and  faithfully,  to  repay  his  debt  to 
his  Alma  Mater. 

The  most  efficient  way  of  doing  so,  is  to  make  himself  worthy 
of  the  institution  whose  name  he  bears,  by  adopting  a  high  moral 
standard  of  living  that  will  reflect  credit  upon  his  Alma  Mater, 

157 


158    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

and  be  an  influence  for  good  in  his  community,  as  well  as  by 
manifesting  a  spirit  of  loyalty  and  devotion  that  will  prompt  him 
to  sing  its  praises  at  all  times  and  on  all  occasions.  If  each 
alumnus  present  takes  heed  of  this  latter  suggestion,  a  new 
dormitory  will  be  required  to  house  the  inflow  of  new  students 
at  the  opening  of  the  college  year. 

Another  debt  of  my  alumnus  citizen,  equal  in  importance  to 
the  one  he  owes  his  Alma  Mater,  is  his  debt  to  society.  The 
higher  plane  accorded  him  in  the  community  brings  with  it 
corresponding  burdens  and  obligations.  The  declaration  that  of 
him  that  hath  much,  much  is  required,  applies  to  the  alumnus 
with  peculiar  force.  Society  demands  that  an  educated  man 
be  a  leader  of  broader  thought  and  higher  morals,  and  it  is  a 
responsibility  that  he  cannot  well  escape. 

An  educated  man  has  no  business  to  conduct  himself  in  a 
manner  that  will  detract  from  the  public  morals,  whether  it  be 
laboring  on  the  Sabbath  day,  using  profane  and  vulgar  language, 
or  spitting  on  the  sidewalk. 

"If  meat  maketh  my  brother  to  offend,  I  will  eat  no  meat,  so 
long  as  I  shall  live,"  is  just  as  good  ethics  today,  as  when  it  was 
the  rule  of  conduct  of  that  great  teacher  and  morahst  of  1900 
years  ago. 

Such  is  the  spirit  of  kindly  consideration  and  love  of  kind, 
that  I  would  have  manifested  by  my  alumnus  citizen;  and  yet 
I  would  not  advocate  a  spirit  of  meekness  of  the  Uriah  Hcep 
variety,  if  you  please,  but  the  spirit  of  meekness  manifested  by 
Jesus  when  he  took  little  children  in  his  arms  and  blessed  them, 
and  the  spirit  of  righteous  indignation  manifested  by  him,  when 
he  scourged  the  money  changers  from  the  Temple. 

Another  debt  imposed  upon  my  alumnus  citizen,  and  one 
quite  as  important  as  the  others,  is  his  duty  to  his  country.  It 
is  in  the  discharge  of  this  duty  that  the  educated  man  bestows 
upon  his  fellow-citizens  and  upon  the  state  that  educated  him 
the  greatest  benefit  of  his  intellectual  training. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  159 

I  used  often  to  recite  at  our  rhetorical  exercises  a  selection  of 
Orville  Dewey's,  entitled  "Liberty."  I  appreciated  it  then  for 
its  high-sounding  phrases,  and  still  more  because  it  saved  me 
the  trouble  of  committing  a  new  selection,  but  I  am  going  to 
repeat  a  portion  of  it  again  today,  because  I  now  appreciate  it  foi 
its  plain  statement  of  our  present  national  needs,  and  for  its 
spirit  of  patriotism.     He  says  in  the  opening  sentence : 

Liberty,  gentlemen,  is  a  solemn  thing,  a  welcome,  a  joyous,  a  glorious 
thing,  if  you  please,  but  it  is  a  solemn  thing.  The  subjects  of  a  despot 
may  be  reckless  and  gay,  if  they  can,  but  a  free  people  must  be  a  thought- 
ful people,  for  it  has  to  do  the  greatest  thing  that  ever  was  done  in  the  world — 
to  govern  itself/ 

Emerson  says,  "Society  is  the  lengthened  shadow  of  one  man." 
If  society,  then  the  state,  and  you,  then,  are  the  state,  and  to  you 
■  we  are  to  look  for  the  proper  administration  of  its  affairs.  Your 
ancestors,  after  long  years  of  hardship,  suffering,  and  bloodshed, 
created  an  infant  republic,  which  was  brought  to  them  by  an 
eagle  instead  of  a  stork,  and  under  their  fostering  care  it  has 
grown  to  be  a  giant  in  the  community  of  nations.  For  its  proper 
guidance  and  control  they  formulated  the  most  wonderful  docu- 
ment ever  created  by  the  mind  of  man. 

This  is  the  splendid  heritage  that  your  illustrious  ancestors 
have  handed  down  to  you;  and  the  question  of  the  hour  is, 
What  are  you  going  to  do  with  it,  my  brethren  ? 

Did  you  ever  notice  a  field  of  wheat  on  a  June  day,  as  it  was 
kissed  by  the  sun,  and  fanned  by  the  gentle  summer  breeze,  or 
frowned  upon  by  threatening  clouds,  and  lashed  by  the  gale  that 
precedes  the  thunder  storm  ?  And  did  you  notice  the  heads  of 
rye,  that  here  and  there  towered  above  the  wheat;  and  that 
whether  it  was  the  summer  breeze  that  gently  swayed  the  mass 
of  wheat,  or  whether  it  was  lashed  to  violent  motion  by  the  angry 
gale,  the  heads  of  rye  stood  erect,  unmoved,  and  seemed  to  look 
with  calmness  and  compassion  upon  their  lowly  brothers,  but 
wholly  unmoved  by  the  influences  that  disturbed  their  neighbors  ? 


i6o    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

My  brethren,  the  rye  in  the  wheat  field  typifies  your  position 
among  the  masses,  in  the  political  field.  If  this  republic  is  to  be 
perpetuated,  and  it  will  be,  it  will  be  accomplished  by  your  zeal 
and  splendid  patriotism,  as  well  as  by  that  of  your  brothers  of 
kindred  institutions,  who,  whenever  a  great  crisis  arises  in  human 
affairs,  will  bring  to  it  disciplined  minds,  a  high  standard  of 
moral  honor,  a  broad  altruistic  spirit,  and  a  calm,  dispassionate 
outlook  upon  the  whole  problem,  that  will  enable  you  to  decide 
it  in  the  interests  of  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number. 
And  having  so  decided  it  you  will  be  able  to  influence  the  masses 
for  their  own,  and  their  country's  good;  for  from  the  skyline  of 
history,  to  the  present  day,  the  minority  has  always  beaten  the 
majority  in  the  end,  when  the  issue  was  a  moral  problem. 

There  are  undisciplined  minds  in  every  community,  who 
assert,  with  a  good  deal  of  gusto,  that  the  spirit  of  this  age  is  that 
of  the  classes  against  the  masses,  and  that  there  is  one  law  for 
the  capitalist  and  another  for  the  laborer.  Now,  while  this  is 
the  marshmallow  age  of  fiction,  yet  exactly  the  opposite  of  that 
is  true  in  the  administration  of  governmental  law  and  order. 

It  is  a  long  way  from  Mount  Sinai  to  America,  but  the  thun- 
dering voice  of  thou  shall  not,  speaks  in  louder  tones  today 
than  when  uttered  on  Mount  Sinai,  just  as  our  civilization  is 
higher  than  the  age  in  which  it  was  first  uttered. 

My  brethren,  into  your  hands  is  given  the  keeping  of  the  Ark 
of  Liberty,  and  for  its  sacred  care  and  protection,  you  shall 
answer  to  posterity. 

The  greatest  debt  of  my  alumnus  citizen  is  the  one  he  owes 
to  himself. 

If  there  is  any  message  more  than  another  that  I  would  bring 
to  you,  it  is  to  live  your  life.  Do  not  expiate  it,  do  not  creep,  or 
crawl,  or  apologize  for  living;  but  stand  up,  proud  in  your 
conscious  manhood,  facing  the  world  courageously,  and  bearing 
the  imprint  of  the  Godlike  spirit  within  you.  Make  your  Kfe  its 
own  excuse  for  being ! 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  l6l 

The  man  who  looks  the  world  squarely  in  the  face,  who  is 
afraid  of  no  man,  and  of  whom  no  man  is  afraid,  views  the 
world  from  the  mountain  tops,  as  did  the  gods  on  Mount 
Olympus. 

Perhaps  some  of  my  younger  brethren,  who,  like  myself, 
took  their  postgraduate  course  in  the  College  of  Hard  Knocks, 
have  often  asked  themselves  the  question,  "Is  it  worth  while 
to  make  a  Uving  ?" 

No,  most  emphatically,  no!  It  is  not  worth  while  to  make 
a  living ;  but  I  tell  you,  it  is  worth  while  to  make  a  life.  Why, 
making  a  hving  is  the  lowest  ambition  that  ever  entered  the 
breast  of  man.  Everything  that  lives  and  breathes,  from  the 
mountainous  elephant  to  the  coral  insect,  makes  a  living ! 

Cassie  Chad  wick  made  a  living,  but  Frances  Willard  made 
a  life! 

The  courageous  man,  and  the  resourceful  man  is  one  who 
builds  a  temple  of  success  on  a  foundation  made  of  his  failures ! 
Do  you  say  that  I  have  pictured  an  ideal  life,  and  one  that  could 
be  lived  only  in  Utopia?  Perhaps  so;  but  don't  you  know, 
my  brethren,  that  we  are  all  traveling  toward  the  beautiful  City 
of  our  Ideals,  and  while  we  know  perfectly  well  that  we  shall 
never  reach  it,  yet  dwelling  in  the  suburbs  is  very  delightful. 

To  my  youngest  brethren,  who  will  receive  the  right  hand  of 
fellowship  and  be  taken  into  full  communion  on  the  morrow,  I 
want  to  extend  my  congratulations,  and  my  condolence :  Con- 
gratulations, on  your  having  received  such  a  splendid  training 
at  the  hands  of  this  great  commonwealth  of  Michigan,  my 
Michigan,  on  which  it  has  set  its  great  seal,  in  joyous  approval; 
condolence,  at  your  handicap  in  entering  the  race  of  life ;  for  any 
young  man  living  four  years  under  the  fostering  care  of  his 
chosen  college  develops  certain  false  notions  of  Ufe,  one  of  which 
is  that  the  world  must  certainly  recognize  and  cater  to — a  col- 
lege degree ! 

I  recall,  very  distinctly,  my  incHnation  to  carry  a  club  and 


1 62    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

whack  every  plebeian  head  that  failed  to  show  me  the  deference 
to  which  I  felt  a  college  man  was  entitled. 

Another  of  these  false  notions  is  the  mistaken  idea  that  a 
college  degree  and  a  permanent  income  are  synonymous  terms. 

Another  is  the  feeling  of  discouragement  you  will  experience 
when  you  return  to  your  respective  homes,  and  find  that  the  boys 
you  left  behind  on  the  farms  have  farms  of  their  own,  and  the 
boys  who  drove  deUvery  wagons  have  stores  and  warehouses 
of  their  own. 

The  advantage  you  have  over  the  boys  who  stayed  at  home 
and  gained  dollars,  while  you  gained  knowledge,  is  that  they 
have  reached  their  Hmitations,  while  the  educated  man  "trains 
on,"  and  his  development  here  is  his  academic  training  for  the 
larger  Hfe  beyond. 

Whatever  the  fates  may  have  in  store  for  you,  rest  assured 
there  is  always  vouchsafed  to  you  God's  greatest  blessing  to 
man — the  blessing  of  work!  I^ove,  laughter,  and  work!  Oh, 
blessed  trinity  of  man's  existence  I 

A  gentlemen  recently  wrote  the  Carnegie  Steel  Company  in 
behalf  of  a  young  friend  who  had  just  completed  a  course  at 
Princeton;  he  closed  his  letter  by  saying  he  felt  certain  his 
young  friend  would  give  them  entire  satisfaction,  as  he  was 
a  very  sharp  young  man. 

The  ofiScer  to  whom  the  letter  was  referred  returned  it  with 
a  memorandum  across  the  bottom  of  the  letter,  saying,  "The 
Carnegie  Steel  Co.  has  no  place  for  sharp  men;  what  the  com- 
pany needs  is  broad  men  sharpened  to  a  point." 

He  that  hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him  heat. 

If  I  were  asked  my  personal  viewpoint  of  life,  I  could  best 
express  it  in  a  beautiful  prayer  of  Max  Ehrman,  in  which  he 
«:ays: 

Let  me  do  my  work  each  day;  and  if  the 
Darkened  hours  of  despair  overcome  me, 
May  I  not  forget  the  strength  that  comforted  me 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  163 

In  the  desolation  of  other  times.    May  I 

Still  remember  the  bright  hours  that  found  me 

Walking  over  the  silent  hills  of  my  childhood, 

Or  dreaming  on  the  margin  of  the  quiet  river 

When  a  light  glowed  within  me 

And  I  promised  my  early  God  to  have 

Courage  amid  the  tempests  of  the  changing  years. 

Spare  me  from  the  bitterness  and  sharp  passion 

Of  unguarded  moments.     May  I  not  forget 

That  poverty  and  riches  are  of  the  spirit. 

Though  the  world  knows  me  not, 

May  my  thought  and  actions  be  such 

As  shall  keep  me  friendly  v/ith  myself. 

Lift  my  eyes  from  the  earth  and  let  me 

Not  forget  the  uses  of  the  stars. 

Forbid  that  I  should  judge  others,  lest  I  condemn  myself. 

Let  me  not  feel  the  glamour  of  the  v/orld. 

But  v/alk  calmly  in  my  path.    Give  me 

A  few  friends  who  will  love  me  for  v/hat  I  am; 

And  keep  ever  burning  before  my  vagrant  steps 

The  kindly  light  of  hope;  and  though 

Age  and  infirmity  overtake  me,  and  I 

Come  not  within  sight  of  the  castle  of  my  dreams, 

Teach  me  still  to  be  thankful  for  life, 

And  for  time's  olden  moments  that  are 

Good  and  sweet;  and  may  the  evening  twilight 

Find  me  gentle,  still. 


INSULATED  WEALTH 


RAY  STANNARD  BAKER,  1889 


I  have  two  or  three  things  I  should  like  to  talk  about  here 
today — some  things  I  have  been  turning  over  in  my  mind  for  a 
long  time,  things  I  am  especially  glad  to  have  the  opportunity 
of  saying  at  a  jubilee  gathering  Hke  this,  the  real  object  of  which 
is  to  survey  the  accomplishment  during  half  a  century  of  a  new 
kind  of  education. 

Not  long  ago  I  was  talking  with  one  of  the  foremost  charity 
organizers  of  New  York  City  a  man  who  spends  a  great  many 
thousands  of  dollars  every  year  in  advancing  various  good  causes. 
I  asked  him  if  he  did  not  find  difficulty  in  raising  the  immense 
sums  of  money  required  by  his  activities.  His  answer  some- 
what surprised  me.  "Of  course,"  he  said,  "but  the  chief  diffi- 
culty is  not  in  raising  money  but  in  knowing  how  to  spend  it 
wisely."  He  called  attention  to  the  immense  benefactions  of 
Rockefeller,  and  Mrs.  Russel  Sage;  he  said  that  Carnegie  was 
finding  it  a  harder  task  to  give  away  his  fortune  wisely  than  it 
had  been  to  make  it.  He  told  me  of  a  rich  man  who  had  worked 
for  months  devising  a  method  of  expending  $250,000  for  a  cer- 
tain benevolence,  so  that  in  the  end  the  money  would  not  do 
more  harm  than  good. 

My  friend  was  talking  of  charity,  but  his  remarks,  it  seemed 
to  me,  applied  more  widely  to  the  activities  of  our  modern  Ameri- 
can life.  It  is  popular  at  this  moment  to  execrate  our  richest 
men,  our  Rockefellers  and  Carnegies;  but  after  all,  are  they 
not  a  pretty  fair  representation  of  us  as  a  people  ? 

Broadly  speaking,  we  Americans  have  learned  how  to  pile  up 
wealth,  but  we  f aix  in  knowing  how  to  use  it  wisely. 

In  the  last  seventy  years  we  have  learned  to  apply  machinery 

164 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  165 

to  the  development  of  nature's  resources.  I  do  not  need  to 
describe  here  how  machinery  has  revolutionized  agricultural 
industry  and  transportation.  Our  grandfathers  could  not  have 
imagined  the  crops  of  dollars  which  by  means  of  machinery  we 
now  gather  from  our  fields  and  mines.  The  country  has  become 
literally  intoxicated  with  the  possibilities  of  speedy  fortune- 
making.  We  have  come  dangerously  near,  as  a  people,  to 
honor  men  not  for  wisdom  or  goodness  but  according  to  their 
ability  in  accumulating  doUars.  For  how  long  have  we  held 
up  as  a  hero  to  our  schoolboys  the  man  who,  beginning  with 
nothing,  has  made  his  way  upward — to  what  ?  Why,  to  money, 
loads  of  money!  We  have  worshiped  the  "self-made  man," 
the  "captain  of  industry."  The  chief  acti\ity  of  our  educational 
system  has  been  to  produce  wealth-makers.  What  does  the 
word  "success"  commonly  mean  as  it  is  applied  today?  Suc- 
cess means  the  ability  to  make  money,  to  own  a  fine  house,  to 
ride  in  an  automobile,  to  give  a  good  dinner ! 

Our  life,  every  phase  of  it,  shows  our  great  capacity  for  mak- 
ing money — our  failure  to  spend  it  wisely.  What  an  example  is 
presented  by  the  rich  American  who,  having  accumulated  a 
fortune  in  a  few  years,  is  running  about  the  world  trying  to  buy 
excitement. 

Having  had  no  training  except  as  a  money-maker,  no  intellec- 
tual resources  beyond  that,  no  knowledge  of  how  money  may  be 
made  really  useful  to  himself  or  to  society,  he  cuts,  indeed,  a 
pathetic  figure !  One  of  the  things  he  does  first  is  to  build  and 
furnish  a  huge  house  in  which  he  does  not  know  how  to  Hve. 
One  such  palace  has  just  been  completed  at  the  cost  of  millions 
of  dollars  in  New  York  City  by  a  rich  man  who  is  also  a  United 
States  senator — by  purchase.  It  is  visited  by  foreigners  as  a 
pattern  of  American  vulgarity  and  crudity.  Millions  of  dollars 
are  expended  every  year  in  wasteful  eating,  drinking,  and  dress- 
ing by  people  who  know  how  to  make  money,  but  who  do  not 
know  how  to  use  it.    Visit  any  of  our  cities  and  you  will  find 


1 66    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

that  the  popular  temples  of  worship  are  not  the  churches  but 
the  eating  and  drinking-places,  the  mighty  temples  where 
expensive  raiment  and  jewelry  may  be  purchased.  Our  news- 
papers treat  us  daily  to  the  scandals,  divorces,  and  crimes 
of  men  and  women  who  have  more  money  than  they  know  how 
to  use — except  in  that  senseless  and  selfish  material  luxury  which 
breeds  immorahty.  And  this  is  not  confined  to  the  obvious 
examples  of  the  great  millionaires  whose  doings  are  reported 
in  the  daily  journals,  but  the  same  rule  applies  in  the  small  cities 
and  even  in  country  neighborhoods.  How  many  times  have  we 
seen  men  ruined  by  the  wealth  they  had  worked  so  hard  to  win — 
because  they  never  learned  how  to  use  it  wisely. 

Our  public  activities  show  the  same  conditions.  No  states 
or  cities  in  the  world  are  able  to  raise  such  vast  sums  as  ours. 
Our  country  is  very  rich.  Almost  unlimited  amounts  of  money 
can  be  obtained  for  public  purposes.  But  how  do  we  spend 
it  ?  Let  the  stories  of  graft  and  political  corruption  told  in  the 
last  few  years  answer  that  question.  Our  governments,  whether 
state  or  city,  have  not  learned  how  to  use  their  money  wisely 
any  more  than  those  who  inhabit  them.  The  state  of  Pennsyl- 
vania has  just  finished  a  gorgeous  new  capital  building  costing 
miUions  upon  millions  of  dollars.  The  money  was  easily  raised, 
for  Pennsylvania  is  a  wealthy  state;  but  we  are  just  now  finding 
out  that  those  who  supervised  the  expenditure  of  the  money 
wasted  or  stole  over  one-third  of  the  amount  appropriated.  A 
city  is  cursed  with  bad  pavements  as  in  Chicago ;  corrupt  police 
service  as  in  New  York,  which  not  only  allows  but  encourages 
crime;  or  with  a  water-system  like  that  of  Scranton,  Pennsyl- 
vania, which,  instead  of  improving  the  health  of  the  people  with 
pure  water,  actually  spreads  typhoid  fever;  and  these  things 
do  not  exist  because  there  is  not  plenty  of  money  to  build  good 
pavements  and  supply  good  water  but  because  the  city  adminis- 
tration docs  not  know  how  to  spend  the  money  it  has.  For  a 
government,  after  all,  is  just  like  the  people  who  make  it.     We 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  167 

can't  expect  public  servants  who  know  how  to  use  money  wisely 
and  honestly  when  we  as  a  people  use  our  money  wastefully  and 
selfishly.  In  short,  we  Americans  have  overtrained  the  facul- 
ties which  produce  wealth;  we  have  sadly  undertrained  the 
faculties  which  use  it. 

But  we  are  beginning  to  recognize  this  national  weakness. 
We  are  beginning  to  pay  less  honor  to  the  mere  "captain  of 
industry."  We  inquire  not  how  much  cash  a  man  has,  but  how 
he  made  it,  and  how  he  is  using  it.  Every  day  we  are  looking 
more  sharply  to  the  "swollen  fortune,"  and  demanding  that  the 
possessor  of  it  give  an  account  of  himself  to  the  public.  Rocke- 
feller and  Harriman  have  become,  in  spite  of  their  wealth,  the 
most  execrated  of  our  citizens.  We  even  hear  discussion  as  to 
whether  or  not  a  community  should  accept  a  Hbrary  eiven  by 
Carnegie,  or  whether  a  college  can  safely  take  Rockefeller's 
so-called  "tainted  money."  When  wc  come  to  think  of  it,  does 
not  that  show  a  most  remarkable  change  in  pubHc  sentiment  ? 
In  other  words,  the  proper  use  of  money,  as  well  as  the  produc- 
tion of  it,  is  being  more  widely  discussed. 

So  unusual  is  the  capacity  today  for  knowing  how  to  spend 
money  wisely  that  the  man  who  possesses  it  cannot  only  obtain 
all  the  money  he  wants,  but  is  in  a  fair  way  to  become  famous. 
You  all  know  the  story  of  the  unknown  New  York  reporter,  who 
had  a  plan  for  spending  milHons  of  dollars  in  playgrounds  and 
parks  for  the  East  Side  poor.  It  appeared  to  be  a  scheme  of 
impossible  magnitude,  but  Jacob  A.  Riis  not  only  succeeded  in 
getting  the  money,  but  won  a  country-wide  fame  because  he 
knew  how  to  spend  it.  A  negro  boy  who  had  been  a  slave — 
Booker  T.  Washington — has  asked  for  $2,000,000  to  build  a 
school — and  has  got  it,  because  he  had  a  wise  way  to  use  it. 
After  the  San  Francisco  earthquake  the  country  poured  out 
millions  of  dollars  to  help  the  sufferers.  It  was  no  trouble  to 
get  money;  but  when  I  was  in  San  Francisco  last  September,  I 
saw  what  a  gigantic  task  it  was  to  use  it  properly.     Much  of  it 


1 68    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

was  wasted,  not  because  the  administrators  were  dishonest,  but 
because  they  did  not  know  how  to  spend  it. 

It  is  a  great  thing  to  teach  a  boy,  as  he  is  taught  in  the  engineer- 
ing department  of  this  College,  the  art  of  producing  electricity — 
producing  it  cheaply  and  in  large  amounts.  Having  taught 
him  that,  we  should  regard  it  as  a  strange  sort  of  education  that 
did  not  also  train  him  with  equal  care  in  the  methods  of  con- 
trolling such  a  dangerous  agency  to  the  use  of  man.  For,  turned 
loose  over  broken  or  uninsulated  wires,  the  more  electricity,  the 
more  ruin.  Wealth  is  exactly  like  that.  We  have  learned  to 
produce  it  with  immense  facility  in  hitherto  unequaled  amounts; 
but  we  have  sadly  failed  in  that  insulation,  that  control,  which 
harnesses  a  powerful  and  dangerous  agency  to  the  use  of  man. 
We  are  the  victims  today  of  what  may  be  called  uninsulated 
wealth.  Wealth  used  properly  is  our  servant ;  used  improperly, 
our  master. 

The  greatest  need  today  in  our  American  life  is  the  expert 
money-user — men  who  know  how  to  use  money  wisely  for  them- 
selves or  for  the  public  good.  And  they  are  hard  to  find !  Let 
me  call  your  attention  to  two  or  three  significant  things.  One 
of  the  greatest  beneficences  of  recent  years  was  that  of  Mr. 
Carnegie  when  he  founded  the  Carnegie  Institution.  What  is 
the  purpose  of  the  millions  of  dollars  at  the  disposal  of  the  direct- 
ors of  that  fund  ?  Why,  to  find  men  who  have  ideas  of  how  to 
spend  money  wisely — and  having  found  them,  to  give  them  the 
money  they  require  to  work  out  theii  plans.  The  essential 
question  that  they  ask  is  this:  "Can  you  spend  money  so  that 
it  will  help  the  human  race?" — and  if  they  are  satisfied  that  a 
man  can  do  it,  aU  the  resources  of  the  institution  are  placed 
behind  him. 

And  just  recently,  as  you  all  know,  Mrs.  Russell  Sage  has 
given  a  vast  fund  of  money,  $10,000,000,  which  is  to  be  used, 
not  to  relieve  poverty,  not  for  education,  but  in  finding  out  how 
money  can  best  be  expended  in  helping  the  poor. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  169 

Think  of  giving  $10,000,000  to  find  out  new  ways  of  spending 
money !  It  shows,  does  it  not,  how  clearly  the  great  possessors 
of  money  like  Carnegie  and  Mrs.  Sage  appreciate  the  problems 
of  using  wealth  with  wisdom.  And  they,  of  all  people,  having 
unhmited  millions  in  their  control,  ought  to  know ! 

I  come  now  to  the  application  of  what  I  have  to  say.  Gentle- 
men, we  are  not  farmers,  or  professional  men,  or  business  men, 
merely  to  make  money;  we  have  also  a  great  responsibility  in 
using  it.  If  we  teach  our  boys  that  the  only  object  in  life  is 
cash,  we  shall  expect  them  to  produce  nothing  but  cash — and 
afterward  waste  it,  or  use  it  to  their  own  ruin.  In  a  new  coimtry 
perhaps  it  was  inevitable  that  the  main  emphasis  should  be 
placed  upon  wealth  production.  But  we  are  no  longer  new; 
and  we  are  very  rich.  Is  it  not  time  in  our  educational  system, 
and  in  our  home-training,  to  give  more  emphasis  to  the  proper 
use  of  wealth  ?  Is  it  not  too  common  to  consider  an  education 
as  a  mere  business  proposition ;  so  much  book-learning  invested 
with  an  idea  that  it  will  produce,  in  ten,  twenty,  or  forty  vears, 
so  much  cash  ? 

What,  then,  do  we  need  in  our  schools  and  colleges  that  we 
have  not  got  ? 

We  need  two  different  things.  In  the  firrt  place  the  individual 
man  must  be  trained  not  only  in  money-making,  but  he  must 
be  given  knowledge  of  how  money  should  be  used  in  something 
besides  fine  houses,  fine  clothes,  and  wasteful  eating  and  drink- 
ins;.  There  must  be  training  in  how  to  get  the  best  things  out 
of  life — in  literature,  art,  music,  travel.  Unless  surplus  wealth 
widens  our  opportunities  for  development  and  happiness  along 
these  higher  lines,  of  what  real  use  is  it  to  anyone  ?  There  is  a 
danger,  in  schools  devoted  wholly  to  technical  or  industrial 
education,  which  train  men  for  money-making,  that  the  other 
side  of  life  should  be  forgotten. 

But  however  much  we  need  to  know  how  to  spend  money 
wisely  for  ourselves,  there  is  even  a  greater  necessity  for  proper 


lyo         MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

training  in  the  methods  of  using  it  wisely  for  puhhc  purposes. 
The  importance  of  that  education  in  a  time  like  the  present,  in 
which  questions  of  vast  national  concern  are  crowding  for  at- 
tention, cannot  be  overemphasized.  We  need  in  our  colleges 
a  broader  and  more  careful  training  of  boys  and  girls  in  what 
may  be  called  the  human  sciences.  I  speak  of  them  here  as 
human  sciences.  They  have  been  for  the  most  part  treated  in 
a  way  inhumanly  dull,  impossibly  forbidding.  I  mean  the 
science  of  sociology,  economics,  poHtical  economy — those  sub- 
jects which  treat  of  the  relationships  of  men  and  the  duties  and 
responsibilities  which  grow  out  of  them.  In  most  schools  these 
subjects,  which  are  in  many  ways  more  important  to  the  citizens 
of  a  democracy  than  anything  else,  are  commonly  neglected. 
We  produce  excellent  farmers,  doctors,  lawyers,  chemists,  engi- 
neers, and  we  train  each  of  them  to  make  money  from  his  calling, 
but  we  fail  dismally  in  training  our  boys  and  girls  for  citizenship. 
We  make  little  or  no  attempt  to  develop  that  social  sympathy 
and  responsibility  upon  which,  after  all,  every  free  government 
must  rest. 

I  was  greatly  impressed  yesterday  with  Dr.  Bessey's  address 
on  the  old  methods  of  science  teaching,  in  which  the  student 
learned  of  nature,  not  from  nature,  but  out  of  books.  When  he 
studied  botany  he  studied  only  to  know  the  names  of  plants, 
not  the  plants  themselves.  That  is  exactly  the  stage,  today, 
which  our  teaching  of  citizenship,  of  social  responsibihty,  has 
reached.  I  tell  you,  if  we  would  govern" ourselves  wisely,  we  must 
first  learn  to  do  it.  We  must  teach  it  not  merely  out  of  books 
but  out  of  life.  The  great  contribution  of  the  Michigan  Agri- 
cultural College  to  education,  it  seems  to  me,  has  been  the 
inspiration  it  has  given  to  the  study  of  life  direct,  the  widening 
of  the  laboratory  system  of  education.  Now,  what  we  need 
today  in  the  teaching  of  economics  and  sociology  is  the  laboratory 
method.  I  can  only  throw  out  a  few  suggestions  here,  trusting 
that  they  may  not,  among  so  many  educators,  be  lost.     If  I  had 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  1 71 

a  class  in  sociology  I  should  not  begin  by  considering  the  struc- 
ture of  the  human  family,  the  departments  of  government — the 
whole  universe  of  history  which  can  be  had  only  in  bocks.  I 
should  do  exactly  what  you  botanists  and  chemists  do  when  you 
hand  your  class  a  real  plant  or  a  bit  of  actual  earth  to  work  upon. 
I  should  say  to  my  class:  In  front  of  the  schoolhouse  you  will 
find  a  hole  in  the  pavement.  Go  out  and  study  it;  find  out 
exactly  what  it  means.  And  I'd  have  a  report  on  that  hole,  and 
before  I  got  through  with  it,  I  warrant  you,  my  class  would 
know  more  about  the  alderman  and  the  mayor  and  the  political 
boss  than  most  voters  you  and  I  are  acquainted  with.  And  if 
I  had  a  class  in  economics,  do  you  know  what  I'd  do?  I'd 
give  them  specimens  to  work  on,  too.  I'd  bring  in  a  new  shoe 
and  cut  open  the  sole.  I'd  show  them  that  while  it  was  sold 
at  a  high  price  as  solid  leather,  in  reality  it  was  half  paper.  I'd 
set  that  class  at  work  on  the  shoe  and  keep  them  at  it  until  they 
knew  the  whys  and  wherefores  of  the  fraud. 

Under  present  conditions,  even  when  educated  men  are 
called  upon  to  serve  as  public  officers,  or  to  vote  for  public  offi- 
cers, or  to  spend  the  public  money,  they  do  not  know  how  to  go 
about  it.  The  result  is  that  the  government  of  our  cities  too 
often  falls  into  the  hands  of  inefficient  or  corrupt  men,  who 
waste  or  steal  the  wealth  with  v^^hich  the  pubUc  intrusts  them. 
Is  it  not  astonishing,  when  we  come  to  think  of  it  coldly,  as  a 
fact,  that  while  we  cunningly  train  our  engineers,  our  lawyers, 
and  our  farmers,  we  are  willing,  in  many  instances,  to  take 
untrained  men,  even  saloon-keepers,  ward-heelers,  and  crimi- 
nals, and  place  them  over  us  as  our  officers,  our  governors, 
legislators,  mayors,  and  give  into  their  control  aU  of  the  vast 
sums  of  pubHc  money  ?  Think  of  it !  I  wonder  what  a  visitor 
from  Mars,  coming  down  here  to  study  our  institutions,  would 
say  about  such  a  system.  We  might  expect  him  to  write  to  his 
home  paper,  something  to  this  effect : 

''They  educate  everybody  in  this  country  called  America: 


172        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

they  have  wonderful  schools  for  lawyers,  doctors,  engineers, 
farmer^,  but  strangely  enough,  they  do  not  think  of  educating 
their  rulers.  Everybody  is  taught  to  work  for  himself;  nobody 
is  taught  to  work  for  the  public  good.  They  try  to  govern  them- 
selves without  learning  how  to  govern.  They  raise  immense 
sums  of  money  for  improving  their  cities,  but  much  of  it  is 
wasted  or  stolen  because  the  rulers  they  elect  are  ignorant.  It 
is  a  strange  and  childish  people '" 

But  I  think  we  are  coming  to  the  time  when  we  shall  recognize 
the  needs  in  our  schools  of  a  proper  training  in  citizenship.  I 
wish,  at  this  great  celebration,  when  our  minds  are  turned  to  the 
subject  of  education  and  educational  methods,  that  we  might  bear 
this  matter  in  mind;  remembering  that  our  nation  cannot  Uve 
unless  men  are  in  some  way  trained  in  the  knowledge  of  those 
social  relationships  and  awakened  to  that  social  sympathy  which 
lies  at  the  foundation  of  democracy. 

We  need  to  know  how  to  produce  wealth.  That  art  is  al- 
ready pre-eminently  ours;  but  we  also  need  more  and  more  to 
know  how  the  great  power  of  wealth  may  come,  by  proper  insu- 
lation, to  illuminate,  not  to  destroy  our  lives. 


TO  OLD  M.  A.  C. 


MRS.  PEARL  KEDZIE  PLANT,  li 


Now  thy  children  here  assemble 

For  thy  glorious  jubilee; 
Thy  stately  halls  and  campus  fair 

Tell  thy  prosperity. 
Full  fifty  years  of  service 

Thou  hast  rendered  to  our  land, 
And  the  triumph  of  the  labors 

We  proclaim  on  every  hand. 

Chorus — 

To  old  M.  A.  C.  we'll  sing, 
And  we'll  make  the  echoes  ring; 
Loyal  hearts  and  hands  we  bring 
To  this  jubilee. 
So  v/ith  spirits  free  and  gay, 
We  will  our  homage  pay, 
On  this  grand  Alumni  Day, 
To  old  M.  A.  C! 

There  are  many  well-known  faces, 

Some  there  are  v/e  see  no  more, — 
Ah!  the  years  have  gone  by  sv/iftly 

Since  our  college  days  were  o'er. 
Now  we  come  again  as  ever 

On  this  campus  green  and  fair, 
And  clasp  the  hands  of  schoolmates 

And  bid  good-bye  to  care. 

Chorus — 

Our  hearts  are  full  to  bursting 
With  the  love  v/e  hold  to  thee. 

Our  dear  old  Alma  Mater, 
Our  grand  old  M.  A.  C. ! 

173 


174        MICfflGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

Now  we  meet  to  do  thee  honor, 

And  to  own  our  boundless  debt 
For  thy  fostering  care  and  precepts, 
"Lest  we  forget, — forget." 

Chorus — 

We  are  proud  to  be  thy  children, 

Proud  of  thy  great  v/ork  and  fame, 
Proud  of  noble  men  and  women. 

Who  have  labored  in  thy  name. 
And  v/hate'er  of  riches,  fame,  or  power 

We  bring,  as  here  we  meet, — 
We  gladly  and  most  proudly 

Lay  all  down  at  thy  feet. 

Chorus — 

Fifty  years !  A  half  a  century 

By  the  cycle  of  the  stars; 
Fifty  years  of  upward  striving 

And  the  path  no  failure  mars. 
Of  thy  progress  through  the  decades, 

Men  with  wonder  hear  the  tale; 
Now  v/e  hail  thee  in  this  triumph, 

Our  Alma  Mater,  hail ! 

Chorus — 


SKETCHES  BY  THE  HISTORIAN 

CHARLES  JAY  MONROE,  1861 

Mr.  President  and  Brother  Alumni: 

But  for  the  thoughtful  reminder  of  President  Clark  not  long 
ago  the  program  would  probably  have  been  my  notice  that  I 
was  to  be  the  historian,  for,  if  I  had  known  of  the  election,  it  had 

escaped  me.  . ,  1  j 

After  considerable  thought  about  the  alumni,  widely  scattered 
over  this  country  and  many  parts  of  the  world,  and  of  the  large 
number  holding  honorable  and  responsible  positions  in  similar 
institutions  or  in  aUied  work,  I  concluded  after  much  worry  and 
consideration  to  throw  the  material  aside  and  give  a  brief  talk 
about  our  Alma  Mater,  feehng  that  on  this  the  fiftieth  anniver- 
sary of  the  CoUege,  when  we  expected  a  large  number  to  return 
to  it  many,  after  years  of  absence,  would  be  glad  to  have  their 
memories  refreshed  by  recalling  very  briefly  the  history  of  the 
inception,  organization,  dedication,  growth,  and  some  of  the 
work  of  this  College. 

The  CoUege  was  pre-eminently  a  pioneer,  created  by  pioneers 
of  Michigan,  and  it  has  been  a  leading  pioneer  in  nearly  every- 
thing pertaining  to  its  organization,  building,  administration, 
plans  of  work,  and  courses  of  study. 

Its  existence,  like  the  university,  normal,  and  common  schools, 
finds  its  warrant,  if  it  needs  any,  in  the  ever-memorable  ordi- 
nance of  1787  where  the  need  of  knowledge  is  tersely  stated  and 
the  command  to  encourage  it  is  definitely  given. 

Michigan  has  intelHgently  and  liberaUy  heeded  that  command. 
Its  second  territorial  governor.  General  Cass,  who  held  the 
office  from  October  29,  1813,  to  August  i,  1831,  when  he  re- 
signed to  fiU  President  Jackson's  appointment  as  secretary  of 


175 


176         MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

war,  was  active  and  enthusiastic  in  promoting  agriculture,  as 
evidenced  by  his  being  chosen  by  the  State  AgricuUural  Society 
(whose  officials  were  familiar  with  his  interests  in  agriculture) 
to  deliver  the  address  at  its  third  annual  fair,  in  1857.  In  1850 
he  addressed  the  Kalamazoo  County  Society,  and  others  might 
be  mentioned.  These  addresses  would  be  worthy  of  repetition 
whenever  or  wherever  agricultural  interest  or  education  was 
being  considered.  In  18 17  when  the  first  act  to  establish  a 
university  was  adopted  by  the  governor  and  judges  of  the  Terri- 
tory of  Michigan,  providing  for  thirteen  professorships,  the  pur- 
pose of  at  least  three  of  them  and  the  provision  for  botanic 
gardens  and  laboratories  indicated  the  desire  and  intention  to 
provide  for  instruction  in  agriculture. 

The  first  constitution  of  the  state  was  framed  by  a  convention 
in  1835  and  provided,  among  other  things,  that  "the  legislature 
shall  encourage  by  all  suitable  means  the  promotion  of  intellec- 
tual, scientific,  and  agricultural  improvement." 

Stephen  T.  Mason,  who  practically  acted  as  governor  from 
Cass's  resignation,  August  i,  1831,  until  he  was  elected  and 
quaUfied  as  governor,  January  i,  1838,  had  become  thoroughly 
imbued  with  a  sense  of  the  importance  of  agriculture  to  the 
growth  and  development  of  the  state ;  so,  in  his  first  message  in 
January,  1838,  he  declared  in  substance  that  the  real  prosperity 
of  the  state  is  most  dependent  upon  the  cultivation  of  the  soil, 
that  whatever  encouragement  is  secured  for  the  agricultural 
interest  extends  a  benefit  to  other  departments  of  industry. 
Agriculture  being  a  primary  and  most  important  branch  of 
state  economy,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  legislature  not  only  to  protect 
its  members  from  disproportionate  burdens,  but  to  facihtate  to 
them  the  advantages  derived  from  the  researches  of  science  and 
the  discoveries  and  improvements  of  the  age.  With  this  object 
in  view  he  recommended  the  creation  of  a  board  or  society,  to 
foster  and  encourage  this  great  source  of  national  prosperity 
and  independence,  to  gather  desirable  information,  and  at  the 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  177 

public  expense  to  distribute  it  to  the  farmers  of  the  state.  A 
year  later,  he  again  called  the  attention  of  the  legislature  to  this 
subject,  saying: 

The  agricultural  interest  is  one  of  great  importance  and  claims  with 
justice  the  protection  of  the  government,  and  yet  it  has  received  less  aid 
from  direct  legislation,  than  any  other  department  of  industry.  But  I  feel 
that  when  it  is  recollected  how  essentially  the  real  prosperity  of  Michigan 
depends  upon  the  cultivation  of  her  soil  and  the  labor  of  her  husbandmen, 
the  subject  will  receive  your  earnest  consideration  and  favorable  action. 

From  the  widespread  interest  at  this  time,  and  the  activity 
of  influential  men  throughout  the  state,  and  particularly  at 
Detroit,  I  believe  the  feehng  is  warranted  that  but  for  the  specu- 
lation and  "wild-cat  money"  resulting  in  the  panic  of  1837, 
Michigan  would  have  had  an  agricultural  school  or  college  start- 
ing with  the  new  state.  Probably  because  of  the  disorganizing 
and  depressing  influences  following  the  panic,  little  was  said  or 
done  for  some  years;  at  least  I  have  found  little  of  public  record, 
although  the  need  of  better  educational  faciHties  for  the  farmer 
continued  to  be  a  feature  of  the  address  at  state  and  county  fairs 
and  in  articles  written  for  the  press,  and  the  interest  was  kept 
alive. 

In  March,  1849,  while  the  legislature  was  in  session,  some 
sixty  members  issued  a  call  for  a  meeting  to  organize  an  agri- 
cultural society.  An  act  to  incorporate  was  approved  on  April  2. 
Most  of  those  who  had  been  active  in  promoting  the  agricul- 
tural interests  and  education  of  the  state,  with  others,  became 
members  and  organized  the  State  Agricultural  Society. 

Governor  Ransom  was  elected  president  and  J.  C.  Holmes, 
who  had  persistently  worked  for  its  organization,  was  naturally 
chosen  secretary.  It  held  a  fair  at  Detroit  in  the  fall  of  that 
year,  and  E.  H.  Lothrop,  a  farmer  living  at  Galesburg,  delivered 
the  address.  I  will  quote  only  a  single  paragraph  of  the  many 
good  things  he  had  to  say: 

While  our  people  and  our  government,  both  state  and  national,  are 
truly  liberal^and  pour  out  their  money  like  water  in  the  establishment  of 


178    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

literary  and  other  public  institutions,  and  dot  our  lands  with  theological 
seminaries,  with  medical  seminaries,  and  with  military  seminaries,  poor 
agriculture,  whose  hand  sows  the  seed  and  whose  arm  gathers  the  harvest 
on  which  all  our  earthly  comforts,  and  even  our  very  existence  depend,  as 
yet  has  no  seminary  in  which  to  teach  her  sons  the  most  valuable  of  all  arts. 

While  this  may  sound  a  Httle  like  a  fault-finding  wail,  it  is  to 
be  remembered  that  he  was  in  a  new  part  of  a  new  state,  with 
little  income  and  much  outgo;  seed  was  scarce  and  expensive. 
After  planting,  it  was  usually  a  fight  against  the  gophers,  black- 
birds, crows,  and  other  enemies  to  save  the  seed. 

In  the  fall,  before  it  was  fully  ripe,  the  squirrels,  woodchucks, 
coons,  and  hedgehogs  were  on  hand  early  in  the  morning  and 
late  at  night  devouring  the  crop.  He  had  to  battle  against  an 
army  of  insects  and  numerous  diseases  of  vegetable  and  animal 
life.  The  soil  seemed  fickle;  floods  and  droughts  came,  and  the 
blighting  effects  of  frost  and  heat  withered  the  crop.  With 
these  and  many  other  things  to  contend  with,  his  plea  was  not  to 
deprive  other  professions  or  classes  of  business,  of  money  for 
education,  but  that  "poor  agriculture"  should  get  a  share  of  the 
money  to  obtain  knowledge  of  meteorology,  zoology,  entomology, 
chemistry,  physics,  drainage,  conservation  of  moisture,  and  other 
sciences  needed  in  farming.  Mr.  Lothrop  is  named  because 
by  education,  experience,  and  observation  he  showed  by  his 
utterances  that  he  was  able  to  interpret  and  express  the  feeUngs 
of  the  farming  class  truthfully  and  effectively.  The  widespread 
sentiment  of  the  farmers  was  further  expressed  and  urged  by 
such  influential  and  persistent  men  as  Bela  Hubbard,  J.  C. 
Holmes,  and  Joseph  R.  Williams,  the  first  president  of  the  Col- 
lege and  a  member  of  the  constitutional  convention  which  put 
that  important  article  in  the  constitution  of  1850  requiring  the 
legislature,  "as  soon  as  practicable  to  provide  for  the  establish- 
ment of  an  agricultural  school."  The  legislature  of  Michigan 
instructed  its  delegations  in  Congress  to  ask  for  350,000  acres  of 
land  to  establish  an  agricultural  school  in  this  state. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  179 

In  1 85 1,  Governor  Barry  called  attention  in  his  message  to 
the  constitutional  provision,  which  received  some  attention  from 
members  of  the  legislature.  In  1853,  ^  bill  for  an  agricultural 
college  was  passed  by  the  senate  but  lost  in  the  house. 

Governor  Bingham  in  his  message  to  the  legislature,  in 
January,  1855,  recommended  the  establishment  of  an  agricul- 
tural school  and  at  some  length  strongly  urged  action.  A  bill 
passed  the  senate  by  a  vote  of  24  to  5,  and  the  next  day  passed 
the  house  by  a  vote  of  52  to  13,  and  was  approved  February  12, 
1855.  College  Hall,  a  dormitory,  and  a  small  brick  barn  were 
erected  in  1856  and  on  May  13,  1857,  the  College  was  duly 
dedicated.  But  the  discussion  as  to  whether  it  should  continue 
as  a  separate  institution,  or  exist  at  aU,  did  not  end,  as  is  shown 
by  the  frequent  discussions  at  various  meetings  and  by  articles 
in  the  public  press,  as  well  as  by  the  opposition  and  strife  at 
nearly  every  session  of  the  legislature  when  the  College  appropri- 
ation was  up  for  consideration  down  to  1869.  In  that  year  when 
the  appropriation  bill  of  $70,000  for  the  College  had  passed 
the  house  and  came  to  the  senate  for  concurrence,  a  carefully 
prepared  bill  was  offered  transferring  the  College  to  Ann  Arbor, 
as  a  department  of  the  university.  This  was  defeated,  and  the 
$70,000  was  given  the  College  by  a  vote  of  22  to  8.  An 
editorial  in  the  State  Republican,  under  the  heading  of  "End  of 
a  Ten- Year  Fight,"  mentioned  the  vote  as  ending  a  fight  to 
destroy  an  institution  which  a  democratic  majority  had  provided 
in  the  constitution,  and  a  republican  majority  had  put  into 
active  operation. 

A  partial  record  of  this  long  struggle  will  be  found  in  the 
reports  of  either  the  State  Agricultural  Society,  the  State  Board 
of  Agriculture,  the  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  or  the 
Pioneer  Society. 

I  will  not  follow  this  farther  except  to  quote  a  paragraph  from 
the  Detroit  Post  of  March  31,  1869,  which  fairly  voices  the  gen- 
eral feeling  at  that  date. 


l8o    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

It  declared:  "But  the  action  of  the  state  government  has 
been  so  sweeping  and  provident  that  the  Agricultural  College 
may  be  looked  upon  as  a  permanent  institution,  unless  it  con- 
tains some  inherent  defect  that  no  money  or  state  aid  can  sup- 
ply." The  article  ended  by  "urging  a  cordial  support  of  the 
College,  and  to  invite  a  renewed  interest  in  it  and  in  its  capa- 
bilities for  educating  and  developing  a  strong,  earnest,  inteUi- 
gent  farming  community."  Thus  it  was  fifty-two  years  be- 
tween the  first  legislative  enactment  hinting  at  agricultural 
instruction  and  the  passage  of  the  last  act  which  seemed  finally 
to  settle  and  fix  the  status  of  the  College. 

To  get  a  broad  view  of  the  present  and  to  meditate  a  little  on 
the  past,  the  roof  of  the  new  engineering  building  furnishes  a 
good  place.  Walk  around  near  the  edge  of  it  and  think  of  fifty 
years  ago,  recalling  the  three  buildings,  the  few  acres  partially 
cleared,  with  charred  logs,  stumps,  and  the  litter  of  the  builders 
strewn  around;  the  vision  limited  to  a  small  circle  bounded  by 
a  wall  of  forest  trees,  burned  and  blackened  while  clearing  the 
few  acres  above  mentioned.  Recall  the  crooked  road  to  Lansing 
with  its  mud  holes,  corduroy  and  roots  of  trees  extending  into 
the  traveled  part  which  had  not  been  cut  or  worn  away.  Think 
of  roads  from  Lansing  to  your  respective  depots,  and  of  the  rail- 
roads carrying  you  nearest  to  your  home,  and  of  the  variety  of 
vehicles,  whether  carriages,  stage,  lumber  wagon,  or  on  foot, 
the  latter  usually  the  most  comfortable.  Forgetting  the  past, 
stroll  leisurely  around  again  and  inspect  the  campus,  with  every 
sort  of  tree,  shrub,  or  \'ine  common  to  this  latitude,  its  walks  and 
drives,  its  cozy  nooks  and  winding  paths,  its  flowers  and  plants 
in  great  variety,  all  or  nearly  all  labeled  and  well  kept.  View 
the  fifty  or  more  buildings  and  think  of  their  equipment  and  con- 
tents, constituting  a  very  complete  outfit  for  the  purposes 
intended,  especially  when  we  get  our  agricultural  building  and 
fire-proof  library,  which  we  hope  for  in  the  near  future.  Linger  a 
few  moments  more,  and  beyond  the  campus  scan  the  gardens. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  l8l 

fields,  forest,  and  the  experimental  plats,  all  surrounded  as  far 
as  the  eye  can  reach  with  homes  and  farms  indicating  thrift  and 
comfort.  When  ready  to  depart,  you  can  safely  go  in  patent- 
leather  shoes  over  the  macadem  road  to  Lansing,  ride  comfort- 
ably in  carriage  or  wagon,  or  rapidly  by  automobile,  or  make 
use  of  the  cheap  and  convenient  street  cars,  any  of  these  landing 
you  at  or  near  the  depots,  where  you  may  take  commodious  cars, 
running  speedily  over  smooth  tracks  to  or  near  your  home. 
You  may  query,  "What  are  some  of  the  results  of  this  vast  expend- 
iture of  time  and  money?"  The  following  are  suggested  as  a 
partial  answer:  Graduates,  including  1907,  1,288,  about  half 
remaining  in  Michigan,  and  the  other  half  scattered  into  every 
state  and  territory  in  the  United  States  and  about  a  dozen  foreign 
countries.  Non-graduates,  7,393,  or  a  grand  total  of  8,681, 
besides  1,007  who  have  taken  special  courses  in  agriculture. 
Most  of  the  non-graduates  and  many  of  the  graduates  are  on 
farms,  and  the  CoUcge  has  representatives  in  nearly  every  agri- 
cultural college  and  experiment  station  in  the  United  States  and 
a  few  in  foreign  countries,  occupying  positions  from  president 
down.  A  majority  are  following  pursuits  alon^  the  line  of  their 
coUege  training  or  allied  worK  And  it  has  been  a  matter  of 
frequent  remark  that  those  who  have  been  at  the  College  and 
gone  into  the  professional  or  commercial  employments  have 
taken  a  deeper  or  more  lively  interest  in  rural  affairs. 

By  the  latest  published  Institute  Report  I  find  that  the  total 
attendance  at  farmers'  institutes  for  1905-6  was  126,535.  The 
frequent  lectures  and  talks  given  by  those  connected  with  the 
coUege  to  Grange  gatherings,  farmers'  picnics,  state  and  local 
horticultural  societies,  farmers'  clubs,  women's  clubs,  and  to  a 
large  number  of  graded  and  district  schools,  easily  swell  the 
number  to  150,000  during  past  year  who  get  direct  benefit  from 
the  college  instruction,  and  all  of  these  have  an  indirect  influence 
on  the  people,  difficult  to  estimate. 

A  number  are  employed  in  newspaper  and  magazine  work. 


l82         MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

mainly  writing  on  topics  of  special  interest  to  the  farmers  and 
industrial  classes.  Thirty-four,  the  latest  number  I  have  seen, 
are  employed  in  the  Agricultural  Department  at  Washington. 
In  this  connection,  I  wish  to  remind  you  that  near  the  beginning 
of  this  College,  there  was  a  mere  pittance  expended  by  the 
United  States  for  agriculture,  and  the  Senate  had  dropped  its 
committee  on  agriculture.  Today,  the  government  has  a 
Department  of  Agriculture,  regarded  by  the  mass  of  its  citizens 
as  of  equal  importance  to  any  other  of  its  great  departments. 

In  my  opinion,  the  creation  of  this  department  is  largely  due 
to  the  work  and  influence  of  this  and  ether  agricultural  colleges 
and  experiment  stations.  I  will  not  detain  you  to  enlarge  upon 
its  widespread  and  valuable  services,  as  we  are  to  have  the 
pleasure  tomorrow  of  hearing  Hon.  James  Wilson,  its  present 
efficient  secretary. 

My  brother  and  sister,  I  appreciate  that  I  have  given  jou 
much  with  which  many  of  you  are  familiar  and  that  you  will 
regard  most  of  it  as  ancient  history.  But  experience  and  obser- 
vation have  convinced  me  that  it  is  well  to  review  at  times  the 
history  of  the  struggles  of  the  Revolution  and  of  the  Civil  War. 
It  increases  cur  appreciation  of  what  it  cost  to  establish  and 
maintain  a  government  and  so  increases  our  patriotism  and 
anxiety  to  guard,  improve,  and  perpetuate  it.  So  of  our  Alma 
Mater.  She  has  had  a  long  struggle  and  exists  because  of  the 
host  of  intelligent  and  farsighted  men  and  women  who  have 
through  years  of  unwearying  persistence  and  ]")atience  stood  by 
her.  All  this  has  undoubtedly  made  her  a  more  efficient  and 
helpful  mother,  enabling  her  to  send  out  a  stronger  heritage. 
She  being  older  than  her  sister  colleges,  her  children  have  gone 
out  in  the  past  to  work  in  other  similar  colleges  in  larger  num- 
bers than  have  the  graduates  of  any  other  college.  Hence,  bv 
this  exceptional  opportunity  they  are  able  to  bring  back  to  their 
Alma  Mater  their  cxpeiiences  and  observations  upon  nearly 
every  college  and  experiment  station  in  this  country  and  in  some 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  183 

foreign  countries.  I  feel  sure  she  will  be  specially  ghd  of  their 
contributions.  Equally  sure  am  I  that  she  is  particularly  proud 
of  those  of  her  children  who  have  gone  out  to  sister  institutions, 
making  their  work  an  influence  felt,  and  making  a  good  name 
for  themselves  and  for  their  Alma  Mater. 

We  realize  that  these  colleges  and  experiment  stations  are 
engaged  in  similar  work,  the  main  purpose  of  which  is  to  make 
worthy  citizens  of  our  giand  republic,  citizens  who  shall  appre- 
ciate the  need  of  good  health  and  such  a  physical  development 
as  will  enable  them  to  stand  the  strenuous  Ufe  entailed  by  in- 
creasing competition.  Who  knows  the  value  of  a  broad  and 
thorough  mental  equipment  as  gi\dng  them  a  larger  liberty  in 
the  choice  of  a  pursuit,  crownins:  all  with  such  a  moral  fiber  as 
will  bring  a  ready  "Yes"  to  the  right,  and  such  an  emphatic 
"no"  to  the  wrong  as  will  ever  ward  off  the  tempter  ? 


Becrolog^ 

HERBERT  WINDSOR  MUMFORD,  1891 


It  is  something  more  than  a  duty,  this  custom  of  remembering 
those  whose  race  is  run  or  whose  life  has  prematurely  gone  out. 
Every  loyal  alumnus  of  our  College  feels  that  in  setting  aside  a 
few  minutes  on  the  program  we  are  giving  but  scant  recognition 
to  those  who  were  once  active  among  us.  We  are  happy  in  our 
renewal  of  old  associations  and  yet  there  is  scarcely  one  of  us 
who  does  not  feel  that  something  or  someone  is  lacking  to  make 
our  joy  complete.  To  some  who  have,  because  of  special  ties 
of  friendship  or  relationship,  been  especially  bereaved,  we,  as 
alumni  and  brothers,  extend  our  most  cordial  sympathy,  and 
trust  that  this  part  of  our  program  will  recall  sweet  memories 
of  those  we  loved. 

[Following  this  Professor  Mumford  spoke  briefly  of  the  life 
and  work  of  each  of  the  alumni  who  had  died  during  the  pre- 
ceding four  years.  The  list  of  those  of  whose  death  he  had 
learned,  together  with  the  date,  with  the  class  to  which  each 
belonged,  and  with  the  place  and  date  of  death,  as  far  as  learned, 
is  given  below.] 

L.  V.  Beebe,  of  the  class  of  1861,  died  at  Utica,  New  York, 
August  II,  1904. 

Sylvester  M.  Millard,  of  the  class  of  1864,  died  at  Lake 
Geneva,  Wisconsin,  December  i,  1905. 

Charles  Henry  Watson,  of  the  class  of  1866,  died  at  Mil- 
waukee, Wisconsin,  April  14,  1907. 

George  Finney  Beasley,  of  the  class  of  1868,  died  in 
Detroit,  November  2,  1904. 

William  Asa  Rowe,  of  the  class  of  1873,  died  in  Vevay 
Township,  Ingham  County,  Michigan,  November  i,  1905. 

184 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  185 

William  C.  Harper,  of  the  class  of  1873,  died  at  Grand 

Rapids,  Michigan,  October  8,  1906. 

Dr.  Lovias  F.  Ingersoll,  of  the  class  of  1874,  died  at  Grand 
Junction,  Colorado,  in  December,  1906. 

DusTiN  C.  Oakes,  of  the  class  of  1874,  died  at  Grand  Haven, 
Michigan,  September  26,  1903. 

Dr.  Corydon  Pirnie  Cronk,  of  the  class  of  1879,  died  at 
Cape  Henry,  Maryland,  December  13,  1903. 

Alva  Sherwood,  of  the  class  of  1881,  died  at  Detroit,  Mich., 
September  27,  1905. 

Dr.  Willard  H.  Coffron,  of  the  class  of  1882,  died  at 
Grindstone  City,  Michigan,  April  7,  1904. 

J.  M.  HoLLiNGSWORTH,  of  the  class  of  1882,  died  at  Whittier, 
California,  May  18,  1907. 

Perry  G.  Towar,  of  the  class  of  1885,  died  at  Garden  City, 
Kansas,  October  8,  1906. 

C.  P.  Locke,  of  the  class  of  1891,  died  at  Ionia,  Michigan, 
December  27,  1904. 

Victor  H.  Lowe,  of  the  class  of  1891,  died  at  Fort  Collins, 
Colorado,  August  27,  1903. 

Leander  Burnett,  of  the  class  of  1892,  died  at  Avalon, 
Pennsylvania,  December  26,  1906. 

E.  N.  Thayer,  of  the  class  of  1893,  died  at  Livingston, 
Montana,  May  6,  1906. 

Noel  M.  Morse,  of  the  class  of  1896,  died  in  New  Haven 
Township,  Gratiot  County,  Michigan,  October  4,  1904. 

Miss  Clare  Dean,  of  the  class  of  1902,  died  at  Mt.  Pleasant, 
Michigan,  February  3,  1906. 

Harry  Hammond  Crosby,  of  the  class  of  1906,  died  at  Three 
Oaks,  Michigan,  October  16,  1906. 


MEMORIAL  DAY  EXERCISES 
THURSDAY  AFTERNOON 


MEMORIAL  DAY  ADDRESS 


WASHINGTON  GARDNER 


It  seems  eminently  fitting  that  in  the  somewhat  elaborate 
program  of  exercises  commemorative  of  the  founding  of  this 
institution  of  learning,  whereby  its  history,  its  spirit,  its  aims  and 
accomplishments  are  sought  to  be  more  fully  set  forth,  a  place 
should  be  given  in  honor  of  the  heroes  who  went  from  its  halls 
to  the  service  of  their  country.  In  the  earlier,  as  in  its  later 
years,  the  atmosphere  of  the  College  seems  to  have  been  sur- 
charged with  the  spirit  of  patriotism.  The  first  class  was  gradu- 
ated in  the  year  the  war  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union  began, 
and  of  that  class  every  member  save  one  entered  the  federal 
army.  One-third  of  its  members  were  killed  in  battle  or  died 
of  disease  while  in  the  service.  In  Civil  War  times  the  attend- 
ance, as  compared  with  the  present,  was  small,  yet  the  records 
show  that  from  the  then  student  body  there  was  in  the  Union 
army  a  total  enrolment  of  sixty-eight.  As  an  evidence  of  the 
high  character  and  inteUigence  of  these  sixty-eight  young  volun- 
teers, thirty-one  became  commissioned  officers.  In  proof  that 
the  culture  of  the  scholar  and  the  valor  of  the  hero  are  not  in- 
compatible, it  is  only  necessary  to  state  that  of  these  student 
warriors  more  than  13  per  cent,  were  killed  or  mortally  wounded 
in  battle,  that  others  died  of  disease,  and  still  others  were 
wounded,  maimed  of  body,  or  broken  in  health,  many  of  whom 
have  long  since  gone  to  premature  graves. 

In  the  late  war  between  Spain  and  the  United  States,  Michi- 
gan's quota  of  infantry  was  five  regiments,  and  in  these  the 
names  of  forty-three  officers  and  enUsted  men  are  found  in  the 
student  enrolment  of  the  Agricultural  College.  Having  in  mind 
this  splendid  record  of  patriotic  service,  may  we  not  with  pro- 

189 


igo         MICHIG-\N  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

priety,  on  this  national  memorial  day,  consider  some  of  the 
issues  involved  and  some  of  the  questions  settled  by  the  great 
war  which  asked  and  received  such  devotion  and  sacrifice  not 
only  from  the  students  of  this  institution  but  everywhere  from 
the  patriotic  young  men  of  our  country  ? 

While  there  were  important  secondary  influences  that  served 
well  the  purposes  of  the  agitators  on  both  sides,  the  basal  diffi- 
culty was  a  question  of  construction  of  the  fundamental  law 
about  which  there  was  an  honest  difference  of  opinion. 

Under  the  Constitution  as  interpreted  by  the  founders  of  the 
government  and  for  a  generation  after  them,  there  seems  to  have 
been  no  question  as  to  the  right  of  a  state  to  withdraw  from  the 
Union.  At  that  time  the  foremost  men  in  the  country  seemed 
to  regard  the  system  of  government  under  the  Constitution  as 
"an  experiment  entered  upon  by  the  states  and  from  which  each 
and  every  state  had  the  right  peaceably  to  withdraw,  a  right 
which  was  very  likely  to  be  exercised."  In  her  act  of  ratification, 
the  delegates  of  Virginia  in  the  name  of  that  commonwealth 
declared  that  the  powers  granted  under  the  Constitution  being 
derived  from  the  people  may  be  resumed  by  them  whenever  the 
same  shall  be  perverted  to  their  injury.  Madison  held  that  "as 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  formed  by  the  sanction 
of  the  states  given  by  each  in  its  sovereign  capacity  it  followed 
of  necessity  that  in  the  last  resort  there  could  be  no  tribunal 
above  their  authority  to  decide  whether  the  contract  made  by 
them  be  violated."  Mr.  WiUiam  Rawle,  the  eminent  Pennsyl- 
vania jurist,  in  his  commentaries  said,  "The  states  may  wholly 
withdraw  from  the  Union,  but  while  they  continue,  they  must 
retain  the  character  of  representative  republics.  The  secession 
of  a  state  from  the  Union  depends  on  the  will  of  the  people  of 
such  state." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  in  the  beginning,  the  union 
of  the  states  was  looked  upon  as  a  mere  confederacy,  an  agree- 
ment, a  compact,  a  bargain,  an  experiment,  and  that  member- 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  191 

ship  therein  was  regarded  as  subject  to  the  wish  or  will  of  each 
to  exercise  its  sovereign  right  to  remain  in  or  to  go  out  from,  as 
it  saw  fit.  Witnesses  are  not  wanting,  individual  or  collective, 
to  prove  that  this  doctrine,  so  perilous  to  natural  unity  and  na- 
tional permanency,  permeated  all  sections  and  needed  only  what 
might  be  regarded  as  a  sufficient  grievance  to  make  its  operation 
manifest.  The  disastrous  commercial  results  following  the 
placing  of  an  embargo  upon  American  shipping  by  President 
Jefferson  led  to  open  threats  by  some  leading  Massachusetts 
men  with  a  strong  popular  following,  to  dissolve  the  Union. 
The  acquisition  of  the  Louisiana  Territory,  now,  and  for  a  long 
time,  regarded  by  men  of  all  parties  in  all  sections  of  the  coun- 
try as  one  of  the  master-strokes  in  American  diplomacy  and  one 
of  the  crowning  acts  of  American  statesmanship,  was  deeply 
resented  and  bitterly  opposed  by  many  of  the  most  eminent  and 
patriotic  of  our  countrymen.  One  of  these  was  a  soldier  of 
excellent  record  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  a  cabinet  ojS&cer 
in  the  administration  of  Washington,  and  later  in  that  of  John 
Adams,  and  still  later  a  distinguished  senator  in  the  Congress 
of  United  States  who,  in  speaking  of  the  preponderating  influence 
the  Louisiana  Territory  would  give  the  South  and  West,  said, 
"I  will  not  despair.  I  will  rather  anticipate  a  new  confederacy. 
There  vdll  be  a  separation.  Our  children  at  the  farthest  will 
see  it."  Another  distinguished  son  of  the  North  was  the  first 
to  declare  and  advocate  on  the  floor  of  the  American  Congress 
the  doctrine  of  secession.  Just  fifty  years  before  Fort  Sumter  was 
fired  upon,  when  the  bill  for  admission  of  Louisiana  as  a  state 
was  under  discussion,  Mr.  Josiah  Quincy,  then  a  leading  mem- 
ber of  Congress  and  afterward  for  many  years  president  of 
Harvard  College,  in  defending  the  proposition  that  the  Con- 
stitution had  not  conferred  upon  Congress  the  power  to  admit 
new  states  except  such  as  should  be  formed  from  territory  be- 
longing to  the  Union  in  1787,  said,  'T  am  compelled  to  declare 
it  as  my  dehberate  opinion  that  if  this  bill  passes^  the  bonds  of 


192         MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

this  Union  are  virtually  dissolved,  that  the  states  which  compose 
it  are  free  from  their  moral  obligations,  and  as  it  will  be  the 
right  of  all  so  it  will  be  the  duty  of  some  to  prepare  definitely 
for  a  separation,  amicably  if  they  can,  violently  if  they  must." 

When  the  nation  was  in  the  midst  of  its  second  war  with 
Great  Britain  and  while  the  issue  was  still  in  doubt  the  Hartford 
convention,  largely  representing  the  New  England  states,  was 
convened  to  discuss  not  the  right — that  seemed  to  be  taken  for 
granted — but  the  expediency  of  secession.  With  closed  and 
sentineled  doors  they  sought,  among  other  things,  to  determine 
the  advisability  of  forming  a  new  confederacy  with  the  Hudson 
River  as  its  western  boundary. 

The  proposition  to  admit  the  territory  of  Missouri  as  a  state 
into  the  Union  without  slavery  evoked  the  most  violent  and 
foreboding  discussion,  not  only  in  Congress  but  by  the  press  and 
people  throughout  the  country.  In  that  discussion  it  was  held 
by  the  South  that  to  prohibit  slavery  in  Missouri  was  a  dangerous 
and  despotic  measure  and  one  that  would  infringe  upon  the 
sovereignty  of  the  states.  Her  indignant  protests  against  the 
exclusion  of  slavery  from  the  proposed  new  state  were  attended 
by  serious  threats  to  dissolve  the  Union.  It  was  during  this 
discussion,  more  than  forty  years  before  the  outbreak  of  the 
Civil  War,  that  a  southern  member  of  Congress  uttered  the 
portentous  prophecy  that  in  the  agitation  of  the  slavery  question  a 
fire  was  being  kindled  which  could  only  be  extinguished  by  blood. 

Because  of  what  was  claimed  to  be  an  unconstitutional  and 
oppressive  protective  tariff,  advantageous  to  the  manufacturing 
states  of  the  North  and  East  and  disadvantageous  to  the  agri- 
cultural interests  of  the  South  and  West,  several  states  in  the 
cotton-growing  belt  of  the  Union  threatened  to  nullify  the  laws 
of  the  federal  government,  while  South  Carolina  went  so  far  as 
to  declare  the  ''tariff  acts  null,  void,  and  no  law,  nor  binding 
upon  that  state,  its  officers,  or  citizens."  She  seriously  purposed 
to  withdraw  from  the  Union,  and  within  her  borders  prepared 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  193 

to  resist  by  force  the  administration  of  the  national  laws.  Com- 
munities in  the  North  repeatedly,  violently,  and  even  boastfully, 
opposed  the  local  enforcement  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  of  1850 
and  in  turn  were  justly  chargeable  with  practical  nuUification  of 
federal  statutes.  The  fires  of  sectional  hate  fed  on  that  which 
was  designed  to  extinguish  them. 

The  culmination  of  events,  in  i860,  brought  the  country  to 
the  verge  of  a  crisis  that  seriously  threatened  the  very  existence 
of  the  Union.  The  South,  unified  by  an  appeal  to  endangered 
property  interests  in  chattel  slaves,  estimated  at  more  than  two 
thousand  millions  of  dollars,  and  the  apparition  of  the  hideous 
ghost  of  a  servile  insurrection,  invoked  the  doctrine  of  state 
sovereignty  and  the  asserted  constitutional  right  of  withdrawal 
from  the  Union  as  its  way  of  escape  from  what  it  believed  to  be 
impending  calamities.  It  claimed  that  "any  state  whenever 
this  shall  be  its  sovereign  will  and  pleasure  may  secede  from  the 
Union  in  accordance  with  the  Constitution  and  without  any 
violation  of  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  other  members  of  the 
Confederacy;  that  as  each  became  parties  to  the  Union  by  votes 
of  its  own  people  assembled  in  convention,  so  any  one  of  them 
may  still  retire  from  the  Union  in  a  similar  manner,  by  the  vote 
of  such  convention." 

In  opposition  to  this  contention  so  long  and  so  stoutly  main- 
tained, Mr.  Lincoln,  when  he  came  to  the  presidency,  held,  that 
"in  contemplation  of  universal  law  and  of  the  Constitution,  the 
union  of  these  states  is  perpetual;"  that  "perpetuity  is  implied 
if  not  expressed  in  the  fundamental  law  of  all  national  govern- 
ments; that  no  government  ever  had  a  provision  in  its  organic 
law  for  its  own  termination."  The  logical  conclusion  drawn 
from  these  syllogistically  stated  propositions  was  that  no  state 
can  lawfully  go  out  of  the  Union  if  by  so  doing  it  imperils  the 
existence  or  the  integrity  of  the  general  government.  Upon 
these  two  points  of  contention  the  issue  between  the  sections 
was  made  up  and  fairly  joined. 


194         MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

There  was,  however,  another  exceedingly  important  question 
involved  in  the  controversy.  That  was  whether  if  a  state  should 
secede  the  constitutional  right  inhered  in  the  general  govern- 
ment to  compel  by  force  such  state  to  remain  in  the  Union  against 
its  will.  Upon  this  point  men  of  the  highest  inteUigence  and  of 
unquestioned  patriotism  and  loyalty  to  the  government  differed 
in  opinion.  Many  in  the  North  believed  with  President 
Buchanan  who,  while  disclaiming  the  right  of  a  state  to  secede, 
declared  it  as  his  deliberate  opinion  that  no  power  has  been 
delegated  to  Congress  or  to  any  other  department  of  the  federal 
government  to  coerce  a  state  into  submission  which  is  attempting 
to  withdraw  or  actually  has  withdrawn  from  the  confederacy. 
Congress,  he  said,  might  preserve  the  Union  by  conciliation, 
but  the  sword  was  not  placed  in  its  hands  to  preserve  it  by  force. 
These  views,  expressed  by  the  official  head  of  the  nation  in  a 
message  to  Congress  so  late  as  December,  i860,  undoubtedly 
served  for  the  time  being  to  divide  the  North  and  to  unify  and 
strengthen  the  South  in  the  already  largely  preponderating 
opinion  entertained  in  that  section  against  the  constitutional 
right  of  coercion. 

In  the  secession  of  certain  of  the  southern  states  and  their 
organization  into  a  confederacy ;  in  the  seizure  of  United  States 
property,  as  forts,  arsenals,  custom  houses,  mints,  and  post- 
offices,  and  their  appropriation  by  the  individual  states  or  the 
confederacy  of  states,  and  finally  in  the  premeditated  and  care- 
fully planned  assault  on  Fort  Sumter,  men  saw  that  the  time 
for  argument,  for  conciliation,  and  for  compromise  had  passed 
and  the  time  for  battle  had  come.  The  shots  that  echoed  across 
the  waters  of  Charleston  harbor  in  the  gray  dawn  of  that  April 
morning  in  1861  awoke  the  nation  from  the  repose  of  peace  to 
the  reaUzation  of  war.  In  that  momentous  hour  one  supreme 
question  challenged  every  loyal  American,  "The  federal  Union, 
shall  it  be  preserved  ?"  Upon  the  issue  involved  in  that  question 
Lincoln  made  his  appeal  to  the  country  and  in  response  to  that 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  195 

appeal  an  aggregate  of  more  than  twenty-two  hundred  thousand 
men  came  forth,  representing  the  incarnated  spirit  of  the  nation's 
purpose  to  preserve  and  transmit  unimpaired  that  which  the 
fathers  had  bequeatlied. 

Important  questions,  some  of  which  had  been  in  dispute 
since  the  founding  of  the  government  and  which  neither  minis- 
ters, nor  pubhcists,  nor  statesmen,  nor  jurists,  nor  cabinets,  nor 
presidents  could  peacefully  and  permanently  settle,  were  now 
submitted  to  the  arbitrament  of  arms.  It  is  not  necessary  at 
this  time  and  in  this  place  to  detail  the  story  of  the  mighty  con- 
flict, nor  to  institute  a  comparison  between  the  sections.  It  is 
enough  for  both  the  North  and  the  South  to  know  that  the  issues 
that  so  long  disturbed  the  tranquillity  and  menaced  the  peace 
and  permanency  of  the  republic  were  unalterably  settled  by  the 
war  of  1861-65.  By  that  war  once  and  for  all  time  it  was  deter- 
mined that  the  federal  Constitution  is  the  supreme  law  of  the 
land;  that  the  first  allegiance  of  every  citizen  of  the  republic  is 
to  the  national  rather  than  to  a  state  government ;  that  nuUifica- 
tion  as  an  assumed  reserved  right  of  the  states  is  eliminated  as 
a  factor  from  the  problem  of  American  poHtics;  that  within  the 
limits  of  the  Constitution  the  federal  Supreme  Court  shall  be 
everywhere  recognized  as  the  ultimate  authority  in  the  con- 
struction of  law,  and  that  the  law  as  so  construed  must  be  obeyed 
by  all  alike  until  changed  by  constitutional  and  not  revolutionary 
methods ;  that  in  the  relations  existing  between  the  national  and 
the  several  state  governments,  the  latter  are  integral  but  sub- 
ordinate parts  of  which  the  former  is  the  one  supreme  and  in- 
dissoluble whole ;  that  if  any  state  attempts  to,  or  actually  does, 
withdraw  from  the  Union,  the  constitutional  authority  not  only 
inheres  in  but  the  duty  is  enjoined  upon  the  general  government 
to  compel  such  state,  by  force  if  necessary,  to  remain  in  and  to 
resume  its  rightful  and  normal  relations.  That  war  determined 
that,  wherever  the  flag  of  our  country  floats  in  undisputed  author- 
ity, there  slavery  or  involuntary  servitude  except  for  the  punish- 


196         MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

ment  of  crime  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted 
shall  be  forever  prohibited.  When  the  war  closed  it  was  settled 
that  the  government  of  the  United  States  of  America  was  not  a 
mere  confederacy  but  *'an  indestructible  union  of  indestructible 
states." 

In  view  of  these  universally  recognized  and  conceded  results, 
the  heroic  dead,  whose  patriotic  sacrifice  we  this  day  commemo- 
rate, did  not  die  in  vain,  and  the  living,  maimed  and  broken  in 
health,  who  still  abide  among  us,  have  not  suffered  without 
recompense.  Every  sincere  lover  of  his  country  can  but  rejoice 
in  the  fact  that  the  feelings  of  sectional  hate,  engendered  by 
many  years  of  embittered  controversy  culminating  in  the  fierce 
strife  of  civil  war,  have  passed  from  the  hearts  and  no  longer 
find  expression  upon  the  lips  of  men,  and  that  where  war  and 
malice  once  held  sway  peace  and  good-will  are  enthroned. 


CAMPUS  ILLUMINATION 
RECEPTION 

PROMENADE  CONCERT 
THURSDAY  EVENING 


THE  ILLUMINATION 

The  evening  of  Thursday  was  given  over  to  the  student  body. 
Under  the  magic  of  innumerable  electric  lamps  which  outHned 
all  the  principal  buildings  and  which,  half  hidden  by  Japanese 
lanterns,  stretched  hither  and  far  along  Faculty  Row  and  many 
other  walks,  the  campus  became  a  veritable  fairyland. 

All  the  young  men  of  the  student  body,  in  white  capes  and 
leggins,  and  carrying  flaming  torches,  gathered  in  front  of  Wells 
HaU,  and  after  an  intricate  march  about  the  campus,  seated 
themselves  on  the  grass  in  front  of  the  Women's  Building,  so 
as  to  form  the  letters  M.  A.  C.  Here  the  young  women  of  the 
CoUege,  coming  from  the  building,  after  an  involved  fancy  march 
called  the  "Oak  Chain,"  formed  the  letters  M.  A.  C.  Then 
joined  by  the  men,  they  indulged  for  an  hour  in  rolhcking  coUege 
songs.  The  music  finished,  all  of  the  student  body,  together 
with  10,000  visitors,  crossed  the  campus  to  WeUs  Hall.  In 
front  of  this  building  tar  barrels  and  other  inflammable  material 
had  been  piled  to  the  height  of  thirty  feet,  and  after  a  great 
circle  had  been  formed  the  bonfire  was  kindled.  Under  its 
brilliant  fight  the  students  marched  about  in  a  circle,  singing 
songs  and  enjoying  themselves  as  only  college  students  out  for 
a  lark  are  capable  of  doing. 


THE  RECEPTION 

At  nine  o'clock  a  reception  to  the  delegates,  alumni,  and 
friends  of  the  College  was  given  in  the  College  Armory.  In  the 
receiving  line  were  President  and  Mrs.  Snyder,  Governor  and 
Mrs.  Warner,  President  Monroe  of  the  State  Board  of  Agri- 
culture, and  Mrs.  Monroe,  and  President  Angell  of  Michigan 
State  University. 

199 


200    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

Until  well  toward  midnight  the  old  Armory  was  happy  with 
the  hearty  greetings  of  friends  who  had  not  met  perhaps  for 
years,  and  was  brilUant  with  electric  lights,  with  beautiful  gowns, 
with  smiling  faces,  and  with  the  cordial  good  cheer  of  the  entire 
company. 


THE  PROMENADE  CONCERT 

During  the  same  hour  a  promenade  concert  was  in  progress 
in  the  Assembly  Tent,  given  by  the  Bach  Orchestra  of  Milwaukee. 
The  great  tent  was  crowded  throughout  the  rendition  of  the  very 
enjoyable  program  given  below : 

PROMENADE  CONCERT  PROGRAM 

1.  Grand  March  from  Tannhauser     .         .         .         Wagner 

2.  Overture,  Jubilee  .....     Chr.  Bach 

3.  Selection  from  Ernani    .....  Verdi 

4.  Solo  for  Cornet 

5.  Concert  Waltz,  "Bel  uns  z'  Haus" 

6.  Overture  to  Maritana    . 

7.  Largo   .... 


9- 


Philharmonic  Echoes     . 
Serenade  for  Flute  and  Horn 


Strauss 
Wallace 
Handel 
Tobani 
Till 
Chr.  Bach 


10.  Agricultural  College  March 
Between  the  musical  numbers  portraits  of  groups  of  stu- 
dents taken  years  ago,  and  portraits  of  famous  alumni  and  of 
well-known  faculty  members,  together  with  reproductions  of  the 
coUege  buildings  of  the  past  and  present,  were  thrown  on  a 
great  screen,  and  were  especially  enjoyed  by  the  alumni  who 
were  present. 


JUBILEE  EXERCISES 
FRroAY  MORNING 


THREE  THINGS  LAST  CENTURY 


SECRETARY  JAMES  WILSON 


It  has  been  said  that  the  United  States  did  three  unique 
things  in  the  last  century.  It  built  at  Washington  the  Capitol, 
the  Washington  Monument,  and  the  Congressional  Library, 
each  the  finest  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  A  much  grander  work 
was  the  laying  of  the  foundation  of  agricultural  education  and 
research  to  prepare  the  farmer  for  his  Hfe-work,  establish  agri- 
cultural literature,  and  Hf t  the  tiller  of  the  soil  to  a  higher  level  of 
efficiency  as  a  producer  and  a  citizen.  No  country  on  earth  has 
such  a  comprehensive  system  to  bring  about  these  results.  The 
total  number  of  land-grant  colleges  is  65,  and  63  of  these  give 
courses  in  agriculture  which  are  attended  by  10,000  students. 
These  colleges  are  also  largely  engaged  in  giving  instruction  in 
agriculture  to  adult  farmers  in  the  farmers'  institutes  which  are 
annually  attended  by  over  one  million  farmers.  These  institu- 
tions have  permanent  funds  and  equipment  amounting  to 
$84,000,000  and  an  annual  revenue  of  $14,500,000,  to  which  the 
federal  government  contributes  $3,000,000  and  the  state  govern- 
ments $7,500,000. 

The  work  is  telling  in  many  ways.  Young  people  go  to  these 
institutions  who  would  not  go  to  any  other.  There  is  a  great 
demand  at  home  and  abroad  for  young  people  educated  along 
these  lines.  The  brightest  farm  boys  and  girls  are  being  edu- 
cated for  the  farm.  It  is  the  most  delightful  and  comprehensive 
study  of  material  things  to  which  the  mind  can  be  appHed. 

FEDERAL  AND  STATE  WORK 

There  has  been  steady  progress  during  the  half -century  that 
marks  the  work  of  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College.     Con- 

203 


204         MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

gress  has  endowed  educational  and  research  institutions  in  the 
states  and  territories.  The  federal  government  has  co-operated 
with  the  states,  and  operated  where  the  work  was  interstate. 
The  movement  to  educate  the  producer  has  reached  the  problem 
of  primary  and  secondary  education,  so  that  the  young  farmer 
may  be  turned  toward  the  study  of  the  elements  of  the  sciences 
that  are  to  have  his  future  attention.  These  combined  efforts 
v^dll  result  in  making  household  words  of  what  is  now  taught  in 
college.  Discussions  of  climates,  soils,  movements  of  moisture, 
plants  and  their  improvement,  animals  and  their  antecedents, 
trees  and  their  value,  sanitation  and  its  application,  will  all  be- 
come famiHar  to  the  educated  farmer's  family. 

NEED  OF  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGES 

Suppose  each  of  the  gentlemen  invited  here  to  rejoice  with 
the  Michigan  Agricultural  College  in  its  day  of  triumph  was 
asked  to  tell  you  why  we  need  agricultural  colleges,  basing  his 
reasons  on  his  observations  while  on  the  way  here.  I  would  say : 
The  water  level  is  too  near  the  surface  in  a  large  percentage  of 
our  best  soils ;  tile  is  not  being  laid  deep  enough — most  plants 
send  their  roots  down  four  or  five  feet  seeking  nutrition — the 
rootlets  stop  when  they  reach  stagnant  water,  and  only  that 
depth  of  soil  is  at  work  for  the  farmer  that  lies  above  the  water 
level.  I  see  drains  being  laid  eighteen  to  thirty  inches  deep 
that  should  go  down  to  forty-eight  inches  at  least,  for  reasons 
that  every  student  in  the  graduating  class  can  give,  but  which 
are  evidently  not  known  to  farmers  generally.  As  the  science 
of  soils  becomes  better  understood,  much  of  the  draining  of 
today  and  of  the  past  will  be  done  over  again. 

PASTURES 

I  have  observed  on  my  way  here  that  decided  improvement 
can  be  made  in  the  pasture,  which  makes  our  most  valuable 
crop  and  is  our  best  recuperating  agent.  A  majority  of  farmers 
have  only  one  grass  growing,  suitable  to  the  soil  and  climate. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  205 

Grasses  are  at  their  best  at  different  seasons,  then  they  rest  for 
a  time.  They  should  supplement  each  other  throughout  the 
seasons.  Many  pastures  have  no  legumes  growing  with  the 
grasses,  while  all  that  are  at  home  in  the  soil  or  climate  should  be 
imder  tribute.  The  office  of  the  legume  is  well  known  to  every- 
body here.  The  agricultural  colleges  should  do  demonstration 
work  along  such  lines  as  pasturing  and  draining  in  all  the  states. 
Perhaps  it  should  be  done  through  other  state  agencies,  in  co- 
operation with  the  college  faculties.  We  must  not  be  content 
with  research  work  that  hits  nothing,  that  is  not  applied  to  some- 
thing, that  helps  no  farmer  or  handler  of  crops.  Leave  all  that 
to  abstract  science.  We  must  make  good  and  find  pots  of  gold  at 
the  ends  of  all  our  rainbows. 

PERCENTAGE  OF  FARMERS 

Including  the  population  of  our  island  possessions,  half  of 
the  people  under  our  flag  are  producers  from  the  soil.  This 
half  owe  it  to  the  other  to  prepare  themselves  for  discharging  the 
duties  of  citizenship  with  the  highest  intelligence.  They  are 
financially  able  to  educate,  as  72  per  cent,  of  our  exports — or 
nine  hundred  millions  of  dollars — is  the  price  of  farm  products 
sold  abroad  annually,  after  supplying  the  home  requirements. 
They  have  leisure  and  more  facilities  for  reading  and  reflection 
than  the  other  half  of  the  people.  Rural  free  delivery  of  mails, 
the  telephone,  the  daily  and  farm  papers,  magazines,  and  other 
sources  of  information  combine  to  form  powerful  adjuncts  in 
the  education  of  the  farmer  and  his  family.  They  are  not 
organized  as  a  class,  and  are  not  likely  to  be,  but  they  are  the 
nation's  jury  when  questions  of  pubHc  policy  are  to  be  settled. 

FINE   MACHINERY 

The  returns  from  intelligent  farming  are  becoming  more 
satisfactory  as  the  principles  that  govern  production  are  better 
understood,  affording  better  homes  and  home  conveniences. 
Our  farmers  are  experts  in  managing  fine  machinery,  and  the 


2o6         MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

crops  grown  by  one  man's  efforts  are  astonishing.  Commerce, 
manufacturing,  mining,  and  carrying  call  help  from  the  farm, 
and  raise  the  price  of  labor.  Production  is  hardly  keeping  step 
with  growth  of  population,  which  results  in  higher  prices  for 
crops.  Few  of  the  immigrants  coming  to  our  country  could  do 
the  work  required  on  the  farm.  They  fit  into  other  industries 
more  readily.  Our  agricultural  colleges  have  broadened  the 
minds  and  strengthened  the  arms  of  our  farmers,  and  increased 
their  efficiency.  They  have  helped  them  into  a  class  by  them- 
selves among  farmers  and  have  dignified  their  calling. 

FARMERS   IN  REQUEST 

The  farmer  is  in  request  when  the  army  and  navy  are  to  be 
recruited,  when  the  city  is  to  be  reinforced,  when  the  professions 
need  quiet  nerves  and  capacity  for  study  and  strain,  when  capital 
and  labor  take  their  dispute  to  the  polls,  when  a  public  man  is  to 
be  weighed,  and  when  the  nation  settles  public  questions  at  the 
ballot  box.  As  a  people  we  are  quite  successful  in  governing  in 
the  country,  the  village,  the  town,  and  in  the  state  outside  of  the 
large  cities.  The  cities  perplex,  the  country  assures.  The 
better  education  of  country  folk  will  gradually  bring  into  counsel 
a  safe  element.  The  future  of  the  republic  depends  upon  the 
intelligence  and  moral  rectitude  of  the  citizen. 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  ANIMALS 

The  development  of  domestic  animals  of  all  kinds  for  various 
uses  on  different  soils  in  varying  chmates  has  hardly  been  begun 
in  this  country.  We  take  the  results  of  foreign  breeders  that 
dealt  with  conditions  quite  dissimilar  from  most  that  we  find  in 
this  country.  We  must  suit  the  animal  to  the  pasture  to  reach 
the  best  results,  and  pastures  vary.  Each  state  or  group  of 
states  will  eventually  learn  by  experience  what  animal  will  be 
most  profitable.  No  other  country  on  earth  has  as  much  capital 
invested  in  animals  as  we  have.     We  look  after  their  health  and 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  207 

the  excellence  of  their  products,  but  we  have  done  little  to  im- 
prove them. 

RURAL  EDUCATION 

Do  not  understand  me  that  I  would  limit  the  education  of 
rural  famiHes  to  material  affairs — to  the  getting  of  "bread  and 
butter,"  as  some  thoughtless  men  in  prominent  places  term 
agricultural  education.  Man's  responsibihty  to  God  and  to  his 
fellow-man  is  now  being  impressed  upon  young  and  old,  in 
country  and  village  and  town,  by  the  grandest  organization  of 
churches  and  Sabbath  schools  known  to  any  people,  where  man's 
nobler  nature  is  being  stimulated  and  developed  with  infinite 
pains  and  at  such  expense  as  we  are  never  likely  to  see  devoted 
to  material  things.  Highly  enhghtened  society,  as  we  have  it, 
requires  liberal  incomes.  Good  farming  is  the  basis  of  bank 
accounts  in  our  country.  Fill  the  pupil's  stomach  before  you 
teach  altruism,  and  see  that  the  teacher  has  had  beefsteak  for 
breakfast.  One  of  the  most  praiseworthy  lines  of  work  being 
done  at  our  agricultural  colleges  is  the  training  of  young  women 
in  what  pertains  to  themselves  and  others,  including  domestic 
economy,  sanitation,  nutrition,  ventilation,  and  correct  living, 
resulting  in  the  American  girl,  unique,  unequaled,  perfect. 


FOR  MICHIGAN  AND  ITS  UNIVERSITY 


PRESIDENT  JAMES   BURRILL  ANGELL 


It  is  with  pleasure  that  I  come  to  bring  the  cordial  salutations 
of  the  University  of  Michigan  to  the  Agricultural  College  on  this 
glad  day.  The  relations  between  the  two  institutions  have 
always  been  most  friendly.  The  University  has  furnished  two 
able  presidents  to  the  College,  President  Fiske,  and  Presi- 
dent Willits,  whose  administrations  form  important  chap- 
ters in  your  history.  Not  to  speak  of  those  younger  teachers 
who  have  been  trained  in  our  halls,  we  remember  as  you 
do  with  pride  the  long  and  conspicuous  services  of  our  gradu- 
ates, Dr.  Kedzie  and  Dr.  Beal.  It  would  perhaps  be  diflScult  to 
name  a  teacher  in  any  institution  whose  services  have  been 
more  useful  to  Michigan  than  those  of  Dr.  Kedzie;  and  Dr. 
Beal,  we  are  happy  to  say,  is  still  spared  to  continue  his  long  and 
creditable  career.  Not  a  few  of  your  graduates  have  to  our  great 
satisfaction  come  to  us  and  won  distinction  in  specialties  which 
it  was  not  your  province  to  furnish. 

As  you  well  know,  in  the  early  50' s  the  University  authorities 
were  desirous  that  the  College  should  become  a  member  of  the 
University  household.  But  the  coy  maiden  declined  our  suit, 
and  so  we  have  each  led  a  life  of  single  blessedness.  We  at  the 
University  have  often  been  inclined  to  think  that  it  would  have 
been  better  for  both  of  us  if  we  had  joined  our  fortunes  at  that 
time.  But  we  are  compelled  to  remember  that  it  is  unprofitable 
for  rejected  suitors  to  complain,  especially  when  the  coy  maiden 
has  prospered  so  well  by  herself  in  her  own  household. 

Like  all  educational  state  institutions  in  the  younger  states 
this  College  has  had  her  days  of  juvenile  troubles — what  I  often 
compare  to  the  mumps  and  measles  and  whooping  cough  in 

208 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  209 

children — but  she  has  come  well  out  of  them  all.  Some  forty 
years  ago  it  fell  to  my  lot  to  conduct  the  organization  of  the 
Agricultural  College  in  Vermont  in  connection  with  the  univer- 
sity, I  found  as  our  friends  have  sometimes  found  here  that  the 
most  serious  task  was  to  convince  the  very  class  for  whom  these 
colleges  are  founded,  namely,  the  farmers,  that  the  institution 
had  anything  of  value  to  offer  to  their  children.  The  methods 
of  farming  were  so  intrenched  by  tradition  and  immemorial 
usage  that  any  proposition  to  improve  them  by  college  training 
was  hopelessly  condemned  as  mere  "book  learning." 

I  think  the  chief  agencies  in  winning  favor  for  this  and  for  all 
similar  colleges  have  been  farmers'  institutes  and  the  experiment 
stations.  By  the  papers  and  discussions  in  the  institutes  it  has 
been  made  clear  to  the  most  conservative  farmer  that  he  has 
something  to  learn  from  others,  and  by  the  researches  at  the 
stations  it  has  been  demonstrated  that  experiments  conducted 
according  to  the  most  approved  scientific  methods  can  reveal 
how  to  make  the  raising  of  crops  or  the  culture  of  fruit  or  the 
breeding  of  animals  more  profitable. 

It  has  now  become  clear  that  even  as  no  other  industry  is  so 
important  to  us  as  the  agricultural,  so  there  is  no  industry  to 
which  science  is  able  to  make  more  valuable  contributions. 
Furthermore,  in  studying  this  vexed  problem,  how  to  keep  the 
bright  boys  on  the  farms,  it  has  become  apparent  that  one  of 
the  wisest  things  is  to  show  them  that,  rightly  understood,  the 
most  effective  conduct  of  the  farm  furnishes  an  opportunity  for 
the  exercise  of  the  highest  intelHgence,  enHghtened  and  inspired 
by  the  best  type  of  theoretical  and  practical  scientific  training. 

This  college  has  been  fortunate  in  commanding  the  services 
of  teachers  of  a  high  order  of  merit,  several  of  whom  are  known 
wherever  agricultural  education  is  appreciated.  Indeed,  some 
of  them  have  been  so  conspicuous  that  they  have  been  drafted 
into  the  service  of  other  institutions  that  pay  higher  salaries  than 
Michigan  allows  herself  to  offer.     Moreover,  a  good  number  of 


2IO         MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

the  graduates  of  this  College  have  been  gladly  seized  by  other 
leading  colleges  for  important  positions  in  their  faculties.  I 
sometimes  think  that  the  institutions  of  higher  education  in 
Michigan  are  called  to  furnish  more  than  their  quota  of  brightest 
young  men  to  colleges  and  universities  in  other  states.  But 
after  all  that  is  a  useful  function  of  these  institutions,  and  we 
ought  perhaps  to  feel  proud  that  these  graduates  are  so  much  in 
demand  as  teachers  in  all  parts  of  our  country. 

Speaking  for  the  University  of  Michigan  I  desire  to  congratu- 
late this  CoUege  most  heartily  that  on  its  fiftieth  birthday  it  finds 
itself  guided  by  so  competent  a  faculty  with  so  efficient  a  presi- 
dent at  the  head;  that  it  sees  so  many  graduates  by  their  lives 
and  their  influence  reflecting  honor  upon  the  College  and  upon 
the  state,  and  that  its  halls  are  filled  by  so  large  and  so  earnest  a 
company  of  ingenuous  young  men  and  young  women  who  are 
here  training  themselves  for  worthy  and  useful  careers.  As 
the  demands  upon  the  institution  are  increasing  with  the  rapid 
growth  of  our  population  and  with  the  more  intelligent  pursuit 
of  agriculture,  may  the  means  not  be  wanting  to  it  to  make  its 
future  even  more  beneficent  than  has  been  this  first  half-century 
of  its  useful  life. 


ADDRESS  FOR  THE  EAST 


RUFUS  WHITTAKER  STIMSON 


GREETING 

He  who  on  this  occasion  would  honor  Michigan  Agricultural 
College  would  but  honor  himself,  so  high  a  position  of  dignity  and 
usefulness  has  this  institution  attained  among  not  only  the  sister- 
hood of  the  land-grant  colleges,  but  also  among  all  other  educa- 
tional institutions.  The  East  gladly  and  proudly  joins  all 
quarters  of  our  country  in  bringing  greetings  and  congratulations 
on  this  happy  occasion. 

THE  EAST 

The  so-called  French  market  in  the  foreign  quarter  of  New 
Orleans  is  a  unique  and  most  attractive  spot.  It  consists  of 
roofed  but  open-sided  pavilions.  In  it  may  be  purchased 
almost  everything  imaginable  from  cut  glass  and  cut  flowers, 
laces  and  embroidery,  to  meats  and  fish,  fruit  and  vegetables. 
About  six  months  ago  I  arose  at  daybreak  to  visit  this  market, 
and  came  at  one  corner  of  it  upon  a  young  Creole  who  was 
tying  up  what  he  called  vegetable  bouquets.  One  knows  a 
young  onion  when  one  sees  it,  and  a  young  turnip.  There  were 
vegetables  in  those  "bouquets,"  however,  with  which  I  was 
quite  unfamiliar.  After  answering  my  inquiries,  the  young  man 
finally  turned  on  me  with  the  question: 

"Not  to  be  too  inquisitive,  where  do  you  come  from?" 

"Down  east — New  England,"  I  answered. 

"Oh,"  he  exclaimed,  "you  don't  live  in  the  United  States!" 

"Yes,"  I  said,  "I  do." 

"  Ah,"  he  queried,  "the  United  States  governs  your  island  ?" 

In  speaking  for  the  East  I  need  hardly  say  to  the  people 
here  assembled  that  I  speak  for  a  land  and  people  comprised 


212        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

within  the  United  States,  nor  produce  any  argument  to  prove 
that  the  East  has  contributed  a  fair  quota  to  the  statesmanship 
of  our  country  as  well  as  to  the  classes  of  the  governed. 

THE   OLD   HOME 

To  many  a  man  in  the  West,  the  East  has  for  long  been  the 
old  home — so  many  in  the  West  have  themselves  migrated  from 
the  East,  so  many  are  the  sons  or  daughters  of  eastern  parents 
now  settled  in  the  newer  coimtry.  When  the  institution  I  have 
the  honor  of  serving  issued  the  first  booklet  of  its  summer  school 
for  teachers,  copies  foimd  their  way  here.  It  was  most  interest- 
ing to  observe  the  instant  response  of  western  editors.  Re- 
quests immediately  began  to  be  received  for  the  use  of  halftones 
or  for  the  purchase  of  photographs  for  printing,  so  suggestive 
of  the  old  home  to  dwellers  on  the  prairies  were  the  illustrations 
of  the  booklet.  Recently  we  came  West  to  the  great  University 
of  Illinois  in  our  search  for  a  man  for  the  headship  of  an 
important  department.  The  man  we  chose  was  attracted  by  the 
great  company  of  distinguished  scholars  and  scientific  men  in 
New  England  whose  ranks  he  was  invited  to  join.  Our  pros- 
perity stirred  him,  for  New  England  still  has  money  to  lend. 
He  was  also  impressed  by  our  thrifty  farms,  with  their  fertile, 
if  sometimes  stony,  fields  so  closely  adjacent  to  our  magnificent 
markets.  But  what  attracted  him  most  of  all,  and  what  finally 
determined  him  to  accept  our  offer,  was  the  desire  that  his 
boys  should  have  an  opportunity  for  growing  up  among  the 
brooks  and  the  woods  and  the  hills  of  New  England.  To  move 
East  would  be  to  draw  near  the  old  home  of  both  his  wife  and 
himself.  Not  unHke  the  tumult  in  the  bosom  of  the  foreigner, 
when  he  thinks  of  the  "  old  country,"  are  the  f  eehngs  of  aft'ection 
in  the  breast  of  the  westerner  when  he  thinks  of  the  old  home 
in  the  East. 

THE  EAST   AND  EDUCATION 

But  it  is  not  of  the  East  in  government,  nor  of  the  East  as 
the  old  home,  that  I  desire  principally  to  speak.     The  chief 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  213 

suggestions  prompted  by  this  occasion  concern  the  place  of  the 
East  in  education. 

If  you  were  to  visit  the  oldest  college  in  our  country,  Harvard 
University,  entering  the  main  gate  leading  to  University  Hall 
you  would  find  on  your  left  old  Harvard  Hall,  the  tongue  of 
whose  belfry  has  called  generation  after  generation  of  young 
men  to  lectures  and  to  prayers.  On  your  right  you  would  find 
old  Massachusetts  Hall.  The  Old  South  Church,  across  the 
Charles  in  Boston,  has  been  called  the  birthplace  of  American 
liberty.  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston,  has  been  called  the  cradle  of  Hberty. 
In  a  very  important  sense  old  Massachusetts  Hall  might  well 
be  called  the  schoolhouse  of  hberty,  so  many  succeeding  classes 
of  young  men  have  been  schooled  within  its  walls  in  the  history 
and  principles  of  American  freedom.  Recently  a  niche  has 
been  built  into  the  front  of  this  old  colonial  building.  When 
the  class  of  1883  was  deciding  who  might  most  appropri- 
ately occupy  that  spot,  they  chose  a  man  who  has  been  called 
by  one  of  our  foremost  scientific  men  "perhaps  the  best  poet  for 
the  working  man,"  James  Russell  Lowell.  And  when  the  senti- 
ment to  appear  on  the  pedestal  beneath  the  bronze  bust  was 
chosen,  these  were  the  words  cut  into  the  marble : 

I,  Freedom,  Dwell  with 

Knowledge:  I  Abide 
WITH  Men  by  Culture 
Trained  and  Fortified 

On  the  outer  gate,  within  a  stone's  throw  of  this  new  monument, 
one  reads  the  ancient  inscription  that  the  primary  object  in  the 
founding  of  Harvard  College  was  to  protect  the  children  of  the 
colonists  from  the  legacy  of  "an  ilUterate  ministry. "  From  the 
first  moment,  American  freedom  has  been  joined  to  knowledge; 
men  of  the  East  have  been  trained  and  fortified  by  the  cultivation 
of  their  higher  and  finer  powers. 


214        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

The  half-century  marked  by  our  celebration  today  is  one  of 
most  extraordinary  interest  to  the  student  of  the  history  of 
teaching.  While  eradication  of  ignorance  and  development 
of  personal  power  have  been  constant  aims,  there  have  been 
marvelous  changes  in  means  and  methods. 

Fifty  years  ago  there  was  one  great  slogan,  "mental  disci- 
pline. "  For  800  years  one  type  of  training  had  dominated  the 
schools.  The  first  college  of  our  fathers  was  a  survival  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  those  twihght  days  one  of  the  idiosyncrasies  of 
which  was  a  mystical  reverence  for  the  number  seven.  There 
were  seven  planets,  seven  metals,  seven  days  in  the  week, 
"seven  apertures  in  a  man's  head,"  seven  cardinal  virtues, 
seven  deadly  sins,  seven  sacraments.  Growing  out  of  a  curious 
regard  for  elements  of  seven,  studies  had  been  divided  into 
groups  of  three  and  four.  Grammar,  logic,  and  rhetoric  had 
constituted  the  so-called  trivium;  arithmetic,  geometry,  astron- 
omy, and  music,  had  made  up  the  so-called  quadrivium.  And 
the  education  of  fifty  years  ago,  not  only  in  colleges,  but  also  in 
preparatory  schools — education  claiming  for  its  watchword, 
"mental  discipline" — was  very  largely  of  the  trivium- quadri- 
vium type. 

Already,  however,  there  were  signs  and  portents  of  change. 
The  names  of  Darwin  and  Wallace,  Huxley  and  Tyndall,  Louis 
Agassiz  and  Asa  Gray  were  commanding  attention  and  respect. 
That  is  to  say,  powerful  influences  for  change  were  at  work, 
even  within  the  schools  and  colleges  themselves. 

Perhaps  of  keenest  interest  to  us  who  are  met  here  today, 
however,  are  two  influences  which  as  the  years  have  passed  have 
exerted  tremendous  modifying  power — both  acting  on  estab- 
lished education,  not  from  within  the  schools,  but  from  the 
outside. 

It  is  almost  exactly  fifty  years  ago  that  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer 
put  into  print,  and  challenged  the  public  with,  this  question: 
"What  knowledge  is  of  most  worth  ?"     Answering  for  himself 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  215 

he  said :  (i)  That  knowledge  which  has  to  do  with  self-preser- 
vation. The  litle  babe's  eyes  must  be  protected  from  the 
bright  light  lest  they  suffer  harm.  His  first  steps  must  be  guided 
lest  he  fall.  Berries  good  for  food  he  must  be  taught  to  pick, 
not  berries  from  bushes  which  poison.  As  the  years  advance 
every  stage  of  life  calls  for  special  care  lest  the  body  suffer  injury. 
All  things  which  have  to  do  directly  with  self-preservation  are 
of  the  first  importance.  (2)  That  knowledge  which  has  to  do 
indirectly  with  self-preservation.  Here  Mr.  Spencer  referred 
to  training  which  develops  a  man's  power  for  earning  a  livelihood. 
All  occupational  knowledge  is  here  included.  The  body  must 
not  only  be  protected  from  harm,  it  also  must  steadily  be  sus- 
tained and  promoted  in  well-being.  (3)  That  knowledge 
which  has  to  do  with  parenthood,  including  all  training  necessary 
for  the  creation  and  well-being  of  family  life.  (4)  That  knowl- 
edge which  is  conducive  to  social  or  community  welfare.  (5) 
Finally,  that  knowledge  which  has  to  do  with  the  graces  and 
refinements  of  life,  including  literature,  music — fine  art  in  all 
forms. 

Mr.  Spencer's  discussion  was  of  great  value  owing  to  the 
broad  scope  of  his  treatment  of  education.  It  was  unique  for 
the  order  in  which  he  stated  the  objects  of  knowledge  and  their 
relative  worth.  Before  art  and  refinement  he  put  social  and 
community  well-being.  Before  knowledge  of  history  and  poli- 
tics he  put  knowledge  of  parental  functions  and  obhgations. 
Before  all  these  he  put  that  elemental  knowledge  which  has  to 
do  with  vocational  efficiency.  What  gave  his  contribution  its 
most  searching  pedagogic  importance  was  his  insistence  on  the 
relatively  higher  educational  value  of  vocational  knowledge  for 
the  average  pupil  in  the  average  school,  and  no  less  for 
the  average  student  in  the  average  college.  The  school  men 
could  not  escape  his  psychology  nor  his  logic.  The  common 
people  received  his  message  gladly.  Almost  immediately  his 
doctrine  crossed  to  the  continent,  and  there  was  translated  into 


2i6    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

French,  German,  Italian,  Russian,  Hungarian,  Danish,  and 
Dutch.  Simuhaneously  it  crossed  the  stormy  Atlantic.  Few 
men  had  have  a  profounder  or  farther-reaching  influence. 

In  short,  Mr.  Spencer  and  those  who  espoused  his  views,  or 
something  like  them,  once  for  all  protested  against  the  domina- 
tion of  the  former  ideal  in  education,  that  mental  discipline  was 
the  supreme  thing.  Knowledge,  to  be  of  worth,  must  not  only 
train  the  mind ;  it  must  also  furnish  it  for  the  immediate,  pressing 
practical  affairs  of  life. 

Parallel  with  the  scientific  and  philosophical  treatment  of 
education  by  Mr.  Spencer  came  the  movement  which  led  to  the 
estabHshment  of  the  land-grant  colleges.  This  also  originated 
in  round  numbers  just  fifty  years  ago,  and  was  a  movement  from 
outside  the  schools.  It  sprang  from  the  soul  of  that  wonderful 
farmer,  blacksmith,  village  banker,  and  for  many  years  influen- 
tial member  of  Congress,  the  late  Senator  Justin  S.  Morrill  of 
Vermont.  Mr.  Morrill  contended  that  Congress  and  the  legis- 
latures of  the  several  states  should  unite  in  furnishing  a  liberal 
and  practical  education.  We  should  equip  all  young  men  and 
all  young  women  for  success  in  life — some  for  usefulness  in  the 
learned  professions,  others  for  success  in  the  great  basic,  eco- 
nomic industries.  The  history  of  the  development  of  these  land- 
grant  colleges  I  need  not  here  trace,  so  familiar  with  it  are  we  all, 
and  so  profoundly  convinced  are  we  of  the  educational  wisdom 
and  foresight  of  this  grandmaster  of  public  affairs.  The  prac- 
tical program  of  Mr.  Morrill,  hke  the  educational  ideas  of  Mr. 
Spencer,  met  with  opposition — prevailed  in  spite  of  it.  The 
first  Morrill  bill  was,  as  Dr.  Abram  Harris  reminded  us  six  years 
ago,  vetoed  by  the  gentleman-president,  James  Buchanan;  the 
Morrill  Act  of  1862  was  approved  by  the  rail-splitter,  Abraham 
Lincoln. 

Happily,  however,  as  the  years  have  passed,  the  new  educa- 
tion and  the  old  have  been  joining  hands.  The  old  college  has 
affected  the  new,  and  the  new  college  has  modified  the  old.     The 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  217 

training  in  the  new  college,  Mr.  Morrill  said,  must  be  liberal  and 
practical.  The  education  in  the  old  college,  the  best  leaders 
today  are  successfully  maintaining,  must  be  both  practical  and 
liberal.  Probably  no  one  man  has  exerted  so  powerful  an  in- 
fluence toward  the  fusion  of  the  best  in  the  old  education  and 
the  new,  as,  during  the  past  quarter-century,  has  President 
Charles  William  Eliot.  By  his  advocacy  of  the  elective  system, 
he  has  certainly  vitalized  the  education  of  the  old  college  no  less 
profoundly  than  the  training  of  the  new  college  has  been  vital- 
ized by  the  ideas  of  Mr.  Spencer  and  Mr.  Morrill. 

Perhaps  a  personal  reminiscence  may  be  pardoned,  since  it 
indicates  better  than  almost  anything  else  could  do  the  nature 
and  spirit  of  our  modern  instruction.  The  brother  of  one  of 
my  college  mates  came  to  Cambridge  on  a  visit.  This  brother, 
as  a  boy,  could  never  be  made  to  apply  himself  to  books.  Once 
out  of  the  grip  of  the  compulsory-attendance  law,  he  left  school 
and  learned  the  plumber's  trade.  During  this  visit,  he  went 
with  us  to  a  lecture  in  a  course  in  ethics  called  "Philosophy  3," 
presented  by  Professor  George  Herbert  Palmer.  It  was  not 
"Philosophy  i,"  an  elementary  treatment  of  the  subject;  nor 
yet  "Philosophy  2."  It  was  a  decidedly  advanced  course  in  the 
midst  of  which  he  spent  that  hour.  Knowing  the  family  circum- 
stances, I  was  exceedingly  curious  to  learn  what  would  be  the 
effect  on  such  a  man's  mind  of  modern  Harvard,  and  at  the  close 
of  the  lecture  I  asked  him  how  he  liked  it.  His  answer  was 
almost  startling: 

"That,"  he  said,  "is  what  I  call  getting  right  down  to 
brass  tacks!" 

Harvard  is  typical  of  the  best,  in  her  aims  and  in  her  methods. 
Individual  freedom  achieved  by  cultivation,  education  getting 
right  down  to  the  brass  tacks  of  living — this  is  the  spirit  today  of 
education  in  the  East.  There  is  the  fullest  warrant  for  the 
assertion  that  the  best  college  education  of  our  time  is  not  so 
much  preparation  for  life,  as  it  is  a  cross-section  of  life. 


2i8        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 
GElSfTLEMEN  OF  THE  OLD  SCHOOL 

A  few  days  ago  at  the  annual  luncheon  of  the  Mount  Holyoke 
Alumnae  Association  of  New  York  City,  President  Wooley 
said:  "We  are  in  danger  of  filling  up  the  blessed  margins 
of  quiet."  She  referred  to  the  over-strenuous  activities  of 
the  modern  college  girl,  especially  in  college  dramatics  and 
fraternities. 

Kindred  dangers  are  conmion  to  all  our  colleges,  but  the 
gravest,  I  beheve,  is  the  danger  that  our  new  college  hf  e  may  with- 
hold from  the  world  the  best  thing  which  the  old  college  con- 
tributed to  it.  What  that  something  was  will  be  sufficiently 
connoted  by  the  simple  mention  of  the  title,  ''gentlemen  of  the 
old  school."     Such  citizens  the  old  college  created. 

We  are  too  often  told  today  that  all  avenues  into  positions  of 
prominence  and  usefulness  bear  on  their  gates  one  or  the  other 
of  two  legends,  "Push"  or  "Pull."  None  of  the  merely  PhiHs- 
tine  elements  of  society  can  here  be  discussed.  One  very  real 
peril,  however  lurks  in  the  path  of  our  new  education,  and  this, 
in  conclusion,  we  must  for  a  moment  consider.  I  refer  to  the 
large  amount  of  time  demanded  by  laboratory  and  practice  work 
in  our  highly  technical  courses,  and  the  relatively  limited  amount 
of  time  given  to  that  training  and  cultivation  which  frees  the 
mind. 

We  are  in  danger  that  our  strength  may  become  our  weakness. 
The  educated  man  today,  the  man  who  would  be  freed  by  his 
college  cultivation  from  the  trammels  of  ignorance  and  incom- 
petence, must  be  scrupulous  to  reserve  for  communion  between 
his  own  soul  and  the  best  spirits  of  the  world  certain  blessed 
margins  of  quiet.  And  we  who  are  responsible  for  outlining 
courses  of  study  should  see  to  it  that  our  institutions,  east  and 
west,  north  and  south,  turn  out,  not  merely  good  farmers,  good 
housekeepers,  good  mechanics,  good  engineers — good  special- 
ists in  whatever  department,  whether  of  labor,  superintendence, 
instruction,  or  research — but,  at  the  same  time,  turn  out  grad- 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  219 

uates  who  in  our  new  day  shall  have  a  quality  in  their  own  living 
and  in  their  influence  on  society  kindred  to  that  of  the  gentlemen 
of  the  old  school,  the  splendid  college  men  of  a  half-century 
ago. 


FOR  THE  SOUTH 


PRESIDENT  HENRY  CLAY  WHITE 


No  portion  of  this  great  republic  offers  sincerer  congratula- 
tions on  this  notable  occasion  than  that  for  which  I  have  the 
honor  and  the  privilege  to  speak.  That  particular  region  which 
we  call  "the  South"  has  abundant  cause  to  recognize  this  cele- 
bration as  commemorating  a  most  important  event  in  the  history 
of  this  happiest  and  wealthiest  of  the  nations  of  the  earth.  The 
people  of  the  South  in  times  past  contributed  their  full  share  of 
patriotic  energy  to  the  establishment  of  the  civic  freedom  which 
is  the  foundation  of  our  national  happiness,  and,  today,  in 
larger  relative  proportions  than  elsewhere  within  our  borders, 
they  are  devoting  their  intelligent  endeavors  to  the  winning  of 
the  great  agricultural  products  which,  at  last,  are  the  foundations 
of  our  national  wealth.  In  this,  the  occupation  of  the  large 
majority  of  our  people,  we,  no  less  than  our  fellow-laborers 
elsewhere,  have  come  to  know  that  intellectual  power  and  tech- 
nical skill  are  now  necessary  factors  in  its  efficient  and  economic 
conduct.  It  is  interesting,  but  not  remarkable,  that  agriculture, 
the  earhest  of  the  industrial  arts,  should  be  the  latest  to  which 
systematized  intellectual  effort  should  be  applied.  All  other 
arts  are,  essentially,  creative;  agriculture  alone  is,  or  may  be, 
simply  directive.  Before  the  smelter,  the  manufacturer,  the 
builder,  or  the  engineer  proceeds  about  his  work  he  must  have 
inteUigent  appreciation  of  many  natural  laws  which  determine 
the  effectiveness  of  his  finished  product.  But  plants  will  grow 
and  cattle  breed  with  promise  of  sufficient  fruits  to  satisfy  man's 
needs,  with  need  for  little  else  than  mere  mechanical  tending 
at  his  hands.  Necessity,  and  not  choice,  has,  therefore,  deter- 
mined the  industrial  fields  in  which  man's  intelHgence  has, 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  221 

heretofore,  been  chiefly  sharpened  in  the  progress  of  his  mate- 
rial civihzation.  Moreover,  an  understanding  of  the  laws  of 
nature  must  be  embodied  in  the  canon  of  the  sciences  before 
effective  application  of  them  may  be  made  in  the  industrial  arts. 
The  processes  of  vegetable  and  animal  production  are  largely 
biological,  and  biology  is  the  youngest  of  the  sciences.  But, 
delayed  as  has  necessarily  been  the  really  scientific  practice  of 
agriculture,  its  day  has  come  at  last,  inciting  to  the  highest  order 
of  intellectual  endeavor  and  holding  promise  of  marvelous  fruits. 
Science,  in  appropriate  form,  now  stands  ready  to  serve  the  pur- 
poses of  the  husbandman  and  has  demonstrated  the  ability  so  to 
do  in  abounding  measure. 

The  congratulations  offered  for  the  South  today  spring  alike 
from  admiration  and  from  gratitude.  The  records  of  the  years 
immediately  preceding  the  founding  of  this  institution  show 
that  many  earnest  and  patriotic  men,  in  many  of  the  states, 
touched  with  the  spirit  of  scientific  inquiry  then  practically  new- 
born, and  dimly  conscious  of  the  need  for  scientific  training  in 
education  for  and  fruitful  employment  in  the  industry  of  agri- 
culture, had  striven  blindly,  in  many  diverse  endeavors  to  relate 
properly  the  education  of  the  children  and  the  avocation  of  the 
people  to  the  scientific  spirit  of  the  times.  For  the  most  part 
these  endeavors  were  faulty  in  conception;  in  most  they  were 
inconsequent  and  vain.  Provisions  for  teaching  and  applying 
the  body  of  natural  science  then  known  for  the  improvement  of 
agricultural  practice  had  not,  indeed,  infrequently  been  made. 
In  my  own  state,  for  instance — and  I  say  it  to  her  honor — three 
years  before  the  founding  of  this  College,  a  considerable  dona- 
tion (the  largest,  I  believe,  then  of  record)  had  been  made  by  a 
private  citizen  toward  the  establishment  of  a  chair  of  agricultural 
chemistry  in  the  university  of  the  state.  Similar  and  sporadic 
endeavors — in  what  was,  at  least,  a  right  direction — to  quicken 
the  art  of  the  husbandman  by  an  understanding  of  the  nature 
with  which  he  dealt  were,  however,  far  too  few  and  inade- 


222         MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

quate  for  any  marked  impression  upon  the  largest  of  all  the 
industries. 

It  was  reserved  for  the  men  of  Michigan  to  be  the  first  to 
conceive  in  wisdom  and  establish  in  strength  an  institution 
qualified  in  form  and  method  to  meet  successfully  the  purpose  of 
the  founders  and  to  serve  triumphantly  as  the  pioneer  of  a  new 
reasonableness  in  education  and  of  a  great  enlightenment  in  in- 
dustry. Undeterred  by  the  inertia  of  conservatism  in  the  school 
and  on  the  farm;  imyielding  to  the  clamors  of  radical  experi- 
menters in  education  and  in  industry;  it  has  held  fast  consist- 
ently to  the  sane  equilibrium  of  redecraft  and  handcraft  in 
technical  training  and  demonstrated  its  merits  by  its  survival. 
To  this  victorious  pioneer — remembering  those  who  founded  in 
wisdom  and  in  faith,  and  those  who  guided  in  loyalty  and  zeal — 
to  those  who  crown  today,  in  prosperity  abounding  and  confi- 
dence unshakable,  this  glad  half-century  of  continuous,  con- 
sistent, and  successful  endeavor,  Michigan's  fellow-patriots  of 
the  sister  states  of  the  South  offer  their  congratulations  in  un- 
stinted admiration. 

To  our  admiration  we  add  our  gratitude.  Though  elder 
members  of  the  family  of  states,  we  sisters  of  the  South — through 
force  of  circumstance  over  which  the  present  generation,  at 
least,  had  no  control — came  into  our  own  as  full  possessors  of 
some  features  of  the  spirit  of  the  age  somewhat  later  in  life  than 
the  young  and  lusty  commonwealths  to  whose  creation  we  had 
contributed.  When,  therefore,  the  belated  time  arrived  when 
wisdom  and  necessity  required  a  re-formation  of  our  educational 
and  industrial  systems  along  other  than  the  accustomed  lines, 
we  were  fortunate  that  the  experience  gained  in  Michigan  and 
the  successful  career  of  this  institution  pointed  the  way  to  im- 
mediate and  wisest  direction  of  certain  of  our  efforts.  The 
Michigan  Agricultural  College  furnished  us  an  admirable  exam- 
ple by  which  to  fashion  our  newly  established  institutions  for 
industrial  education,  and  in  many  instances,  furnished  us  the 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  223 

efficient  teachers  with  which  to  man  them  in  the  experimental 
days.  The  statesmanship  of  Michigan  met  our  commendation 
in  yet  another  way,  most  agreeable  to  our  traditional  conser- 
vatism and  our  hereditary  beliefs.  It  was  here  demonstrated 
that  the  new  education  and  the  newly  inspired  industry  were 
designed  to  supplement,  not  to  replace  the  old,  for  here  in  Michi- 
gan, along  with  the  marvelous  growth  of  this  great  technical 
college,  went  the  equally  marvelous  growth  of  that  great  univer- 
sity dedicated  more  particularly  to  pure  science  and  the  liberal 
arts.  The  quickening  of  industry  through  education  did  not 
diminish  but  increased  and  contributed  to  the  appreciation  and 
the  valuation  of  the  humanities  and  culture.  It  has  been  here 
demonstrated  that,  whether  under  one  roof  or  locally  apart,  these 
twin  forces  of  hberal  and  technical  education  may  work  in  har- 
mony to  the  great  and  single  end,  the  betterment  of  humanity. 
For  what  has  here  been  done  throughout  these  fifty  years,  and 
for  what  the  doing  of  it  has  been  to  us,  it  is  my  great  privilege  to 
offer  for  the  South  today  this  inadequate  expression  of  our 
admiration  and  our  gratitude. 


FOR  THE  WEST 


PRESIDENT  BENJAMIN  IDE  WHEELER 


California  sends  greeting  to  Michigan.  The  orange  makes 
obeisance  to  the  yellow-tasseled  corn.  The  valleys  that  mediate 
between  the  Sierras  and  the  great  ocean  reach  forth  their  hands 
to  the  prairies  that  hold  the  balance  between  the  Lakes  and  the 
waters  that  seek  the  GuK.  The  College  of  Agriculture  at  Berke- 
ley salutes  its  elder  brother  who,  as  pioneer,  opened  for  it  the 
first  paths  and  cut  the  brush.  We  learned  both  from  your 
gropings  and  your  findings,  and  we  thank  you  for  both.  We 
know  with  you  what  it  means  to  labor  on  the  frontier,  and  we 
share  with  you  the  blessed  western  experience  of  trying  and 
risking  in  a  virgin  field,  whereby  to  irritate  and  teach  the  self- 
satisfied  composure  of  the  East. 

The  life  of  the  nation  has  been  continually  freshened  and  its 
progress  largely  determined  by  the  reaction  upon  it  of  men's 
experience  on  the  frontier.  This  has  mostly  meant  trouble, 
but  trouble  is  the  sine  qua  non  of  growth,  and  without  pain  there 
is  no  birth.  After  the  thirteen  Atlantic  Coast  states  had  become 
tolerably  used  to  each  other,  and  had  settled  down  into  fair 
composure,  the  occupation  of  the  next  row  of  states  to  the  west 
produced  Jackson,  the  new  democracy,  and  various  troubles  and 
fusses.  The  admission  of  CaHfornia  in  1850  undid  the  Missouri 
Compromise  which  for  thirty  years  had  formed  the  basis  of  a 
truce  between  North  and  South.  The  settlement  of  Kansas  and 
Nebraska  in  the  50's  brought  on  the  Nebraska  Bill,  which  made 
the  Civil  War  inevitable.  The  advance  of  agriculture  into  Kan- 
sas and  Nebraska  gave  a  succession  of  dry  years  in  the  early 
90's  their  power  to  rend  and  wreck  the  old  party  of  Jefferson. 
And  now  the  extension  of  the  frontier  into  the  Pacific  has  made 

224 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  225 

the  question  of  labor  unions  in  politics  joined  with  that  of  orien- 
tal labor  a  rich  promise  and  foreboding  of  trouble  for  ihe  days 
to  come.  It  is  the  reaching  fingers  that  get  the  burns,  but  it  is 
the  folded  arms  that  compose  to  sleep. 

In  1857  Michigan  was  in  things  cultural  still  the  frontier,  and 
the  establishment  here  of  agricultural  education  handed  back 
a  firebrand  into  the  complacent  usage  of  the  East.  To  speak 
of  torches  tied  to  foxes'  tails  and  sent  into  the  standing  grain  of 
the  Philistines  is  only  an  agricultural  figure  of  speech,  and  in- 
competent to  express  the  trouble  and  germs  of  trouble  thereby 
infused  into  the  entire  circulatory  system  of  all  American  educa- 
tion. The  agricultural  colleges  and  the  state  universities  which 
in  many  states  have  included  the  colleges  and  have  been  infected 
with  their  spirit  are  a  distinctive  product  of  the  West,  and  have 
embodied  a  fresh  and  vitally  new  idea  of  education  and  what  it  is 
all  about.  Centuries  of  separation  from  the  life-need  that  begat 
it  had  made  the  mechanism  of  education  largely  a  formal  in- 
strument of  discipline.  The  significance  of  the  agricultural 
college  for  the  whole  trend  of  American  education  was  its  naive 
effrontery  in  frankly  seeing  for  life-training  a  new  connection  with 
real  life-use,  and  this  significance  exceeds,  in  service  to  the 
nation,  even  the  weight  of  the  benefits  wrought  for  the  tilling 
and  the  tiller  of  the  soil. 

Within  the  fifty  years  that  have  followed  upon  the  beginning 
of  your  Michigan  experiment,  and  under  the  quickening  influence 
of  your  venture  and  others  that  succeeded  it,  the  whole  nation 
of  teachers  has  been  assuming  a  new  conception  of  the  whole 
meaning  of  their  task.  It  is  coming  to  them,  not  through  a 
priori  reasoning,  for  of  that  they  did  enough  before,  but  through 
observance  and  practice  of  your  frontier  venture.  They  now 
seem  to  be  learning  that  education  inheres  not  in  what  you  put 
into  a  man,  or  what  you  hang  onto  a  man,  nor  yet  in  sterilizing 
him,  or  shaving  him  down  to  a  standard  shape;  but  in  giving 
him,  such  as  he  is,  and  such  as  his  Hfe-activities  may  be,  the 


226    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

opportunity,  in  and  through  those  activities,  of  living  his  h'fe 
fully  and  effectively  and  abundantly.  Such  education  proceeds 
upon  the  recognition  that  no  hypertrophy  of  mind  or  body  is  as 
good  as  plain  health,  that  plain  health  is  the  best  medicine  for 
all  disease,  and  that  the  normal  exercise  of  plain  life  is  the  straight 
path  to  plain  health.  Such  education  will  therefore  address 
itself  perforce  to  the  real  doings  and  exercises  of  real  life,  and  its 
definition  will  be:  The  guided  practice  of  life,  to  the  end  that 
men  may  live. 

If  now,  in  terms  of  the  higher  learning,  all  this  should  prove 
to  mean  that  applied  science  is  after  all  the  true  science,  what 
does  it  matter  ?  For  the  deeds  and  worth  of  men,  the  social  test 
is  and  always  will  be  the  final  test,  and  the  uses  and  needs  of 
man  in  society  will  in  the  long  run  form  the  safest  guide  to  the 
truth  we  should  seek,  and  for  that  matter  presumably  to  the 
truth  we  can  hope  to  find. 

So  much  from  the  side  of  the  individual,  but  more  from  the 
side  of  the  community;  for  all  this  means  that  education,  which 
once  made  teaching,  preaching,  healing,  and  litigating  the 
sacred  four,  is  now  laying  its  hand  upon  one  after  another  of  the 
activities  of  daily  human  life  to  dignify  and  uplift  them,  to  relate 
them  to  reason  and  truth,  and  rescue  them  from  sordid  slavery 
to  superstition,  ignorance,  and  the  rule  of  thumb,  to  the  end 
that  we  shall  call  nothing,  which  involves  a  human  use,  common 
or  unclean. 

Small  matter  indeed,  this  school  for  farmer  boys  at  Lansing 
in  1857;  a  weird  undertaking,  though,  and  audacious,  not  pre- 
scribed in  the  books,  unapproved  of  the  elders;  but  behold,  the 
stone  which  the  builders  rejected,  it  has  become  the  head  of  the 
corner ! 


FOR  THE  MIDDLE  WEST^ 


PRESIDENT  EDMUND  JANES  JAMES 


Members  and  friends  oj  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College: 

In  looking  over  the  marvelous  advance  in  agricultural  educa- 
tion during  the  last  fifty  years  you  can  utter  the  proud  boast 
which  Vergil  put  into  the  mouth  of  the  great  Aeneas:  "Of  all 
this  I  have  been  a  great  part." 

And  this  is  an  era  not  of  progress  in  agricultural  education 
alone,  but  in  all  other  departments  as  well.  For  he  who  fancies 
that  this  great  movement  for  agricultural  and  industrial  educa- 
tion has  affected  only  colleges  of  agriculture  and  the  mechanic 
arts  has  greatly  underestimated  its  real  influence.  It  has  touched 
and  shaped,  at  more  points  than  one,  the  training  and  equipment 
of  even  our  oldest  and  best-known  centers  of  learning.  Even 
such  strongholds  of  ancient  tradition  as  Harvard  and  Yale  are 
in  many  respects  greatly  different  from  what  they  would  have 
been  had  it  not  been  for  the  over- increasing  strength  of  this 
tendency.  It  is  in  a  large  sense  a  part  of  a  world-movement, 
bound  up  with  the  inevitable  advance  of  the  democratic  spirit 
and  increasing  acceptance  of  democratic  ideals. 

Higher  education  for  the  farmer  and  the  mechanic,  if  it  ever 
becomes  general,  will  mean  a  new  era,  not  simply  in  education, 
not  simply  in  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts,  but  in  the  world 
of  politics  and  civihzation.  Despotism,  tyranny,  one-man 
power,  absolutism,  cannot  long  continue  in  a  country  in  which 
the  average  man  is  in  touch  with  the  processes  and  ideals  of 
higher  education.  The  progress  of  democracy  was  bound  to 
bring  with  it  the  demand  for  an  ever-rising  standard,  not  simply 

I  Read  in  the  enforced  absence  of  President  James  by  Dean  Eugene  Daven- 
port. 

227 


228   MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

of  technical,  but  of  general  education  as  well,  for  the  farmer  and 
mechanic,  and  the  general  spread  of  these  ideals  of  higher  educa- 
tion will  inevitably  advance  the  cause  of  democracy. 

It  is  difficult,  of  course,  to  formulate  a  satisfactory  philosophy 
of  history.  It  never  has  been  done,  perhaps  it  can  never  be  done 
until  history  is  closed,  when  it  would  have  but  little  interest  for 
anybody.  But  certainly  this  great  movement  toward  democracy 
which  is  characteristic  of  all  countries,  the  enormous  increase 
in  wealth,  the  destruction  of  time  and  space  involved  in  the  gen- 
eral application  of  steam  and  electricity,  the  ever- widening  scope 
of  popular  education,  all  these  things  have  worked  together, 
each  upon  the  other,  each  supplementing  and  strengthening  the 
other,  to  bring  about  that  marvelous  revolution  which  has  made 
possible  this  development  of  agricultural  and  mechanical  educa- 
tion on  the  one  hand  and  which  has  itself  been  enormously 
furthered  by  this  very  education. 

The  demand  for  special,  professional  education,  the  training 
of  the  farmer  and  the  mechanic,  is  one  which  few  people  trained 
in  the  old  education  ever  comprehended  or  were  ever  able  to  esti- 
mate at  its  true  value.  It  has  not  been  very  long,  of  course,  in 
this  country  since  there  w^as  little  faith  in  the  value  of  special 
education  on  anybody's  part.  It  was  the  habit,  even  in  the  sphere 
of  the  so-called  learned  professions,  to  insist  that  the  best  way 
for  a  man  to  learn  his  business  was  to  go  into  practical  life  as 
soon  as  possible,  or  at  any  rate  get  into  touch  with  practical  life 
as  closely  as  possible  from  the  very  beginning.  The  ideal  of 
the  physician  was  to  have  the  boy  get  into  the  doctor's  office  as 
soon  as  possible  and  clean  his  horses  and  wash  his  bottles  as  the 
only  reasonable  road  to  learning  therapy  or  preparing  oneself 
for  the  practice  of  medicine.  Entrance  into  a  lawyer's  office 
and  the  copying  of  legal  documents  and  sweeping  out  of  the 
office  and  building  fires  in  the  winter  time  was  recognized  as  the 
practical  method  of  preparing  for  admission  to  the  bar.  For 
neither  of  these  professions  was  college  education  considered  any 


SEMT-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  229 

real  necessity,  and  even  in  the  case  of  a  clergyman  who  was  ex- 
pected in  some  denominationb  to  be  an  educated  man,  it  was 
not  felt  that  any  study  of  divinity  was  necessary  beyond  the 
possible  acquisition  of  an  elementary  knowledge  of  the  New 
Testament  in  Greek.  How  much  less  could  the  public  be  ex- 
pected to  insist  upon  a  higher  standard  of  special  education  for 
other  classes.  It  is  almost  inconceivable  to  us  so  see  how  slow 
was  the  progress  even  in  such  a  department  as  that  of  engineering 
education ;  remarkable  to  see  how  long  it  took  before  the  general 
public  was  converted  to  the  view  that  if  a  boy  was  looking  for- 
ward to  the  practice  of  the  engineering  profession  there  were 
certain  schools  the  completion  of  whose  curriculum  was  a  valu- 
able element  in  the  preparation  for  this  work.  Even  such  a 
distinguished  and  enlightened  educator  as  President  Eliot  has 
yielded  to  this  idea  of  professional  and  special  education  in  vari- 
ous lines  only  with  great  reluctance  and  only  as  he  has  been 
compelled  by  the  actual  drift  of  circumstances.  Twenty-five 
years  ago  I  heard  him  say  in  a  public  address  in  regard  to  the 
preparation  of  teachers  that  the  theory  of  Harvard  College  was 
that  if  a  man  had  the  requisite  knowledge  that  was  all  that  was 
necessary.  He  might  then  acquire  the  actual  experience  as  a 
teacher  and  he  would  succeed  or  fail  according  to  his  natural 
bent ;  that  there  was  nothing  further  than  assistance  in  acquiring 
the  knowledge  which  the  university  could  do  for  the  candidate 
for  the  teaching  profession. 

We  do  not  realize  until  we  stop  to  think  about  it,  how  com- 
pletely that  idea  has  passed  away  and  how  today  the  public  is 
ready  to  accept  the  idea  that  school  training  is  good  as  an  ele- 
ment in  the  preparation  for  almost  any  calling  which  you  can 
name.  We  see  every  day  some  new  kind  of  school  springing 
into  existence  which  is  intended  to  satisfy  this  demand  for  spe- 
cific and  special  preparation. 

Now  this  great  movement  for  agricultural  education,  which 
found  an  expression  in  the  organization  of  this  institution  and 


230        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

which  found  a  larger  and  wider  expression  a  short  time  later  in 
the  passage  of  the  famous  Morrill  act,  profited  by  this  changed 
attitude  of  the  public  on  the  one  hand,  and  it  stimulated  and 
quickened  the  acceptance  of  this  general  principle  on  the  other. 
Now  development  of  agricultural  education  has,  it  seems  to  me, 
in  certain  directions,  outrun  and  is  today  in  advance  of  the 
development  of  education  in  other  lines,  and  this  movement 
for  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts  has  benefited  all  our  higher 
education  in  several  distinct  and  definite  ways. 

In  the  first  place,  this  grant  from  the  federal  government, 
seconded  as  it  was  by  subsequent  grants,  strengthened  enor- 
mously the  schools  which  had  been  started  in  the  field  of  agri- 
culture and  provided  for  the  establishment  of  an  entirely  new 
set  of  schools  in  states  where  without  this  assistance  a  generation 
or  even  two  or  three  might  have  passed  away  before  anything 
had  been  done. 

Some  of  our  American  states  were  not,  financially  speaking, 
able  to  establish  these  schools  upon  the  requisite  scale.  The 
federal  grant  distributed  as  I  believe  wisely,  on  the  basis  not  of 
population,  but  of  the  political  unit,  gave  an  impulse  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  state  education,  which  has  borne  fruit  in  every  direction. 
We  see  it  perhaps  in  the  most  striking  way  in  the  institution 
which  I  represent  here  today,  and  where,  upon  the  basis  of  this 
original  land  grant  as  a  direct  and  immediate  outcome  of  this 
thrusting,  if  you  please,  of  federal  contribution  upon  the  state 
of  Illinois,  has  been  developed  what  will  ultimately  be  one  of  the 
greatest  centers  of  scientific  investigation  and  practical  training 
which  the  world  has  ever  seen.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  state 
of  Illinois  would  have  entered  upon  this  work  for  another  gener- 
ation and  perhaps  not  for  two  if  it  had  not  been  for  his  grant  on 
the  part  of  the  federal  government.  The  University  of  the 
state  of  Maine  represents  a  similar  development  to  that  of  Illi- 
nois, only  on  a  somewhat  smaller  scale  and  stretched  through 
a  somewhat  longer  period.     I  am  sure  that  in  the  University  of 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  231 

Wisconsin  and  the  University  of  Minnesota,  though  neither  insti- 
tution dated  its  origin  from  this  grant,  the  era  of  active  develop- 
ment and  of  vital  activity  dates  from  the  utilization  of  this  federal 
grant.  Now  this  federal  grant  for  the  improvement  of  educa- 
tion in  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts  was  followed  up  some 
years  later  by  a  remarkable  grant  for  the  establishment  and 
development  of  agricultural  experiment  stations.  Although 
these  institutions  have  in  some  cases  been  established  separately 
from  the  agricultural  college,  yet  I  cannot  help  feeling  that 
their  influence  has  been  one  of  the  most  specific  and  peculiar  and 
remarkable  forces  at  work  in  the  development  of  this  whole 
branch  of  education,  and  I  do  not  know  that  I  can  do  anything 
better  to  set  forth  my  idea,  even  at  the  risk  of  being  a  little  per- 
sonal, than  to  show  how  this  idea  has  worked  as  a  ferment  in  the 
institution  which  I  represent  more  particularly.  I  take  great 
pleasure  in  emphasizing  this  fact  more  especially  because  we 
happen  to  have  had  at  a  critical  time  at  the  head  of  our  College 
of  Agriculture  a  man  who  is  an  alumnus  and  a  former  member 
of  the  faculty  of  this  institution,  a  man  whom  we  delight  to  honor, 
a  man  for  whose  production,  if  you  please,  we  are  under  great 
obligations  to  you,  Dean  Eugene  Davenport. 

The  establishment  of  the  agricultural  experiment  station  was 
the  most  distinct  recognition  on  the  part  of  the  government  that 
if  you  are  going  to  establish  higher  professional  education  in  any 
line,  it  must  be  upon  thoroughgoing  scientific  investigation  as 
the  fundamental  substructure,  so  that  every  man  engaged  in  the 
work  of  teaching  in  the  College  of  Agriculture  is  also  engaged 
in  the  work  of  investigation,  and  the  man  who  is  not  doing  some- 
thing to  quicken  his  subject,  to  add  to  the  knowledge  we  have  of 
it;  who  is  not  himself  striving  to  improve,  to  increase  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  subject  or  improve  the  application  of  it,  is  likely  to 
be  an  arid  and  unfruitful  teacher.  Now,  I  think  it  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  in  no  branch  of  professional  education  today 
in  this  country  anywhere  is  there  such  complete  and  full  recog- 


232        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

nition  of  this  principle  of  the  absolute  necessity  of  original  in- 
vestigation to  the  highest  type  of  professional  education  as  in 
the  field  of  agricultural  training  and  agricultural  education. 
Is  not  this  a  great  achievement  for  the  farmer  ?  Has  he  not  in 
this  respect  set  an  example  to  every  other  profession  in  this 
desire  to  develop  the  great  interests,  social,  economic,  and  pohti- 
cal,  intrusted  to  his  care  in  our  social  organization  ?  So  far  as  I 
know  there  has  been  no  such  development  in  the  field  of  engineer- 
ing experimentation  and  engineering  investigation  and  research, 
although  that  forms  the  other  side  of  the  work  of  this  great  group 
of  institutions.  The  federal  government  has  not  yet  made  an 
appropriation  for  the  engineering  experiment  station  as  it  has 
for  the  agricultural  experiment  station.  It  has  not  yet  made  an 
appropriation  for  the  medical  laboratory,  which  is  the  medical 
experiment  station,  or  for  the  chemical  laboratory,  or  for  the 
legal  seminary,  which  would  represent  the  center  of  scientific 
investigation  and  research  corresponding  to  the  agricultural 
experiment  station.  Friends,  this  is  a  great  achievement  for 
the  farmer.  He  has  laid  the  education  of  this  country  under  a 
lasting  debt  of  obligation.  This  principle  which  appUes  to 
agriculture  applies  to  engineering  exactly,  applies  to  medicine, 
applies  to  law,  applies  to  education,  and  yet  the  farmer  has  been 
the  only  one  to  grasp  the  idea  and  to  imbed  it  so  soHdly  in  the 
fundamental  structure  of  agricultural  education  that  there  is  no 
danger  that  we  shall  ever  depart  from  it. 

The  reflex  influence  of  this  upon  the  other  departments  has 
already  been  striking  and  is  destined  to  be  more  striking  in  the 
future.  The  legislature  of  Illinois  at  its  last  session  appro- 
priated the  sum  of  $50,000  per  annum  for  a  graduate  school. 
I  think  the  most  telling  argument  used  in  the  support  of  this 
project  before  the  legislature  was  the  simple  one  that  this  repre- 
sented to  a  certain  extent  in  other  lines  what  the  agricultural 
experiment  station  represented  in  the  field  of  agricultural  educa- 
tion and  research. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  233 

Another  way  in  which  this  great  movement  has  influenced 
education  in  a  beneficial  way  is  to  be  found  not  simply  in  the 
underlying  thought  which  I  have  already  described,  which  seems 
to  me  fundamental  and  vital,  but  in  the  liberality  with  which  the 
farmer  has  taken  up  this  work.  We  are  spending  in  the  state 
of  Illinois  today  more  upon  the  education  of  the  farmer,  using 
that  term  in  a  large  sense  including  the  agricultural  experiment 
station,  than  upon  the  education  of  any  other  class.  We  have 
foimd  it  easier  to  get  money,  and  we  pay  higher  average  salaries 
to  the  men  in  our  College  of  Agriculture,  of  the  same  grade  of 
training  and  experience,  than  we  do  the  men  of  any  of  the  other 
colleges,  because  the  farmer  has  determined  not  simply  to  lay  as 
scientific  and  broad  a  foundation  as  I  have  described  it,  but  he 
is  determined  to  have  competent  men  to  give  this  instruction, 
and  he  recognizes  that  competent  men  cannot  be  had  unless 
adequate  salaries  be  paid.  Furthermore,  he  recognizes  that 
even  the  competent  man  in  this  modern  world  of  education  and 
research  cannot  do  the  best  work  unless  he  has  adequate  equip- 
ment. So  our  agricultural  department  is  today  the  best-equipped 
department  in  the  University  of  Illinois. 

The  immediate  and  direct  effect  of  all  this  is  very  marked  in 
the  wilUngness  of  the  legislature  to  improve  and  enlarge  the 
other  departments  of  the  miiver'iity.  I  think  it  would  have  been 
a  long  time  before  the  people  of  Ilhnois,  under  existing  conditions, 
would  have  made  reasonable  appropriations  for  a  law  school, 
for  example,  if  they  had  not  already  made  them  for  the  farmers' 
school.  I  am  sure  that  we  never  should  have  obtained  the 
magnificent  outfit  for  our  engineering  college,  if  it  had  not  been 
that  the  farmers'  college  had  been  adequately  cared  for  on  the 
same  liberal  scale.  There  is  not  a  single  department  of  our 
institution  which  has  not  benefited,  in  my  opinion,  indirectly, 
nay,  directly,  by  this  marvelous  movement  toward  higher  educa- 
tion and  this  youngest  of  all  fields — a  movement  directed  along 
the  soundest  and^most^helpful  lines,  a  movement  organized  in  a 


234    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

certain  way  on  a  higher  plane  than  education  up  to  this  time 
has  been  organized  on  a  large  scale  in  the  country  as  a  whole  in 
any  other  department. 

You  will  see  why  as  a  university  president,  interested  in  this 
department  of  agricultural  education  only  in  proportion  to  its 
importance  as  a  part  of  the  general  scheme  of  education,  I  real- 
ized the  significance  and  the  value  of  the  great  movement  of 
which  this  institution  is  such  an  able  exponent.  We  at  Illinois 
are  under  special  obligations  to  you  of  the  Michigan  Agricultural 
College.  Eugene  Davenport,  the  great  dean  of  our  College  of 
Agriculture,  Herbert  Mumford,  the  organizer  of  our  department 
of  animal  husbandry,  F.  R.  Crane  of  our  farm  mechanics  depart- 
ment, and  Professor  Goodenough  of  our  mechanical  engineering 
department — all  these  and  more  do  we  owe  to  you,  and  we  are 
pleased  to  acknowledge  the  debt. 

I  congratulate  you  upon  your  great  past.  I  congratulate  you 
upon  your  claim  to  having  been  the  first  in  the  field,  upon  your 
just  claim  that  you  were  not  only  first  but  that  you  have  made 
good,  that  you  have  maintained  a  position  of  leadership  and 
that  you  propose  to  maintain  it  for  the  future.  I  congratulate 
you  on  the  outlook  of  the  future,  and  I  only  wish  that  the  next 
fifty  years  of  your  life  will  bear  out  to  the  fullest  extent  the  prom- 
ise of  the  fifty  that  are  past. 


COMMENCEMENT  EXERCISES 
FRIDAY  AFTERNOON 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  237 


COMMENCEMENT   EXERCISES 

After   selections  by  the  orchestra  the   audience  of   about 
20,000  people  joined  in  singing: 


MENDON 

Great  God  of  Nations  now  to  Thee 
Our  hymn  of  gratitude  we  raise; 

With  humble  heart  and  bending  knee 
We  offer  Thee  our  song  of  praise. 

Thy  name  we  bless,  Almighty  God, 

For  all  the  kindness  Thou  hast  shown 

To  this  fair  land  the  pilgrims  trod — 
This  land  we  fondly  call  our  own. 

Here  freedom  spreads  her  banner  wide, 
And  casts  her  soft  and  hallowed  ray; 

Here  Thou  our  fathers'  steps  didst  guide 
In  safety  through  their  dangerous  way. 

We  praise  Thee  that  the  gospel's  light 

Through  all  our  land  its  radiance  sheds. 

Dispels  the  shades  of  error's  night. 

And  heavenly  blessings  round  us  spreads. 

Great  God,  preserve  us  in  Thy  fear; 

In  danger  still  our  Guardian  be; 
O  spread  Thy  truth's  bright  precepts  here; 

Let  all  the  people  worship  Thee. 


238   MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

The  invocation  was  delivered  by  Rev.  Elisha  Moore  Lake, 
pastor  of  the  First  Baptist  Church  of  Lansing,  after  which  the 
President  of  the  United  States  spoke  as  follows: 


THE  MAN  WHO  WORKS  WITH  HIS  HANDS 


THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 


The  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  founding  of  this  CoUege  is  an 
event  of  national  significance,  for  Michigan  was  the  first  state 
in  the  Union  to  found  this,  the  first  agricultural  college  in  Amer- 
ica. The  nation  is  to  be  congratulated  on  the  fact  that  the  Con- 
gress at  Washington  has  repeatedly  enacted  laws  designed  to  aid 
the  several  states  in  establishing  and  maintaining  agricultural 
and  mechanical  colleges.  I  greet  all  such  colleges,  through 
their  representatives  who  have  gathered  here  today,  and  bid 
them  Godspeed  in  their  work.  I  no  less  heartily  invoke  success 
for  the  mechanical  and  agricultural  schools;  and  I  wish  to  say 
that  I  have  heard  particularly  good  reports  of  the  Minnesota 
Agricultural  High  School  for  the  way  in  which  it  sends  its  grad- 
uates back  to  the  farms  to  work  as  practical  farmers. 

OUR  EDUCATIONAL  SYSTEM  AND  WHAT  IT  LACKS 

As  a  people  there  is  nothing  in  which  we  take  a  juster  pride 
than  our  educational  system.  It  is  our  boast  that  every  boy  or 
girl  has  the  chance  to  get  a  school  training;  and  we  feel  it  is  a 
prime  national  duty  to  furnish  this  training  free,  because  only 
thereby  can  we  secure  the  proper  type  of  citizenship  in  the  aver- 
age American.  Our  public  schools  and  our  colleges  have  done 
their  work  well,  and  there  is  no  class  of  our  citizens  deserving  of 
heartier  praise  than  the  men  and  women  who  teach  in  them. 

Nevertheless,  for  at  least  a  generation  we  have  been  waking 
to  the  knowledge  that  there  must  be  additional  education  be- 
yond that  provided  in  the  public  school  as  it  is  managed  today. 
Our  school  system  has  hitherto  been  well-nigh  wholly  lacking 
on  the  side  of  industrial  training,  of  the  training  which  fits  a  man 

239 


240        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

for  the  shop  and  the  farm.  This  is  a  most  serious  lack,  for  no 
one  can  look  at  the  peoples  of  mankind  as  they  stand  at  present 
without  realizing  that  industrial  training  is  one  of  the  most 
potent  factors  in  national  development.  We  of  the  United  States 
must  develop  a  system  under  which  each  individual  citizen  shall 
be  trained  so  as  to  be  effective  individually  as  an  economic  unit 
and  fit  to  be  organized  with  his  fellows,  so  that  he  and  they  can 
work  in  efficient  fashion  together.  This  question  is  vital  to  our 
future  progress,  and  public  attention  should  be  focused  upon  it. 
Surely  it  is  eminently  in  accord  with  the  principles  of  our  demo- 
cratic life  that  we  should  furnish  the  highest  average  industrial 
training  for  the  ordinary  skilled  workman.  But  it  is  a  curious 
thing  that  in  industrial  training  we  have  tended  to  devote  our 
energies  to  producing  high-grade  men  at  the  top  rather  than  in 
the  ranks.  Our  engineering  schools,  for  instance,  compare 
favorably  with  the  best  in  Europe,  whereas  we  have  done  almost 
nothing  to  equip  the  private  soldiers  of  the  industrial  army — the 
mechanic,  the  metal-worker,  the  carpenter.  Indeed,  too  often 
our  schools  train  away  from  the  shop  and  the  forge;  and  this 
fact,  together  with  the  abandonment  of  the  old  apprentice  system, 
has  resulted  in  such  an  absence  of  facilities  for  providing  trained 
journeymen  that  in  many  of  our  trades  almost  all  the  recruits 
among  the  workmen  are  foreigners.  Surely  this  means  that 
there  must  be  some  systematic  method  provided  for  training 
young  men  in  the  trades,  and  that  this  must  be  co-ordinated 
with  the  public-school  system.  No  industrial  school  can  turn 
out  a  finished  journeyman ;  but  it  can  furnish  the  material  out 
of  which  a  finished  journeyman  can  be  made,  just  as  an  engineer- 
ing school  furnishes  the  training  which  enables  its  graduates 
speedily  to  become  engineers. 

We  hear  a  great  deal  of  the  need  of  protecting  our  working- 
men  from  competition  with  pauper  labor.  I  have  very  little 
fear  of  the  competition  of  pauper  labor.  The  nations  with 
pauper  labor  are  not  the  formidable  industrial  competitors  of 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  241 

this  country.  What  the  American  workingman  has  to  fear  is 
the  competition  of  the  highly  skilled  workingman  of  the  countries 
of  greatest  industrial  efi&ciency.  By  the  tariff  and  by  our  immi- 
gration laws  we  can  always  protect  ourselves  against  the  com- 
petition of  pauper  labor  here  at  home;  but  when  we  contend  for 
the  markets  of  the  world  we  can  get  no  protection,  and  we  shall 
then  find  that  our  most  formidable  competitors  are  the  nations 
in  which  there  is  the  most  highly  developed  business  ability, 
the  most  highly  developed  industrial  skill;  and  these  are  the 
qualities  which  we  must  ourselves  develop. 

DIGNITY  AND  IMPORTANCE  OF  LABOR 

We  have  been  fond  as  a  nation  of  speaking  of  the  dignity  of 
labor,  meaning  thereby  manual  labor.  Personally  I  don't  think 
that  we  begin  to  understand  what  a  high  place  manual  labor 
should  take;  and  it  never  can  take  this  high  place  unless  it  offers 
scope  for  the  best  type  of  man.  We  have  tended  to  regard  edu- 
cation as  a  matter  of  the  head  only,  and  the  result  is  that  a  great 
many  of  our  people,  themselves  the  sons  of  men  who  worked  with 
their  hands,  seem  to  think  that  they  rise  in  the  world  if  they  get 
into  a  position  where  they  do  no  hard  manual  work  whatever ; 
where  their  hands  will  grow  soft,  and  their  working-clothes  will 
be  kept  clean.  Such  a  conception  is  both  false  and  mischievous. 
There  are,  of  course,  kinds  of  labor  where  the  work  must  be 
purely  mental,  and  there  are  other  kinds  of  labor  where,  under 
existing  conditions,  very  little  demand  indeed  is  made  upon  the 
mind,  though  I  am  glad  to  say  that  I  think  the  proportion  of 
men  engaged  in  this  kind  of  work  is  diminishing.  But  in  any 
healthy  community,  in  any  community  with  the  great  solid 
qualities  which  alone  make  a  really  great  nation,  the  bulk  of  the 
people  should  do  work  which  makes  demands  upon  both  the 
body  and  the  mind.  Progress  cannot  permanently  consist  in  the 
abandonment  of  physical  labor,  but  in  the  development  of  physi- 
cal labor  so  that  it  shall  represent  more  and  more  the  work  of  the 


242    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

trained  mind  in  the  trained  body.  To  provide  such  training,  to 
encourage  in  every  way  the  production  of  the  men  whom  it  alone 
can  produce,  is  to  show  that  as  a  nation  we  have  a  true  conception 
of  the  dignity  and  importance  of  labor.  The  calling  of  the 
skilled  tiller  of  the  soil,  the  calling  of  the  skilled  mechanic,  should 
alike  be  recognized  as  professions,  just  as  emphatically  as  the 
callings  of  lawyer,  of  doctor,  or  banker,  merchant,  or  clerk. 
The  printer,  the  electrical  worker,  the  house  painter,  the  foundry 
man,  should  be  trained  just  as  carefully  as  the  stenographer  or 
the  drug  clerk.  They  should  be  trained  alike  in  head  and  in 
hand.  They  should  get  over  the  idea  that  to  earn  twelve  dollars 
a  week  and  call  it  "salary"  is  better  than  to  earn  twenty-five 
dollars  a  week  and  call  it  "wages."  The  young  man  who  has 
the  courage  and  the  ability  to  refuse  to  enter  the  crowded  field 
of  the  so-called  professions  and  to  take  to  constructive  industry 
is  almost  sure  of  an  ample  reward  in  earnings,  in  health,  in 
opportunity  to  marry  early,  and  to  establish  a  home  with  reason- 
able freedom  from  worry.  We  need  the  training,  the  manual 
dexterity,  and  industrial  intelligence  which  can  best  be  given 
in  a  good  agricultural,  or  building,  or  textile,  or  watchmaking, 
or  engraving,  or  mechanical  school.  It  should  be  one  of  our 
prime  objects  to  put  the  mechanic,  the  wage-worker  who  works 
with  his  hands,  and  who  ought  to  work  in  a  constantly  larger 
degree  with  his  head,  on  a  higher  plane  of  efficiency  and  reward, 
so  as  to  increase  his  effectiveness  in  the  economic  world,  and 
therefore  the  dignity,  the  remuneration,  and  the  power  of  his 
position  in  the  social  world.  To  train  boys  and  girls  in  merely 
literary  accomplishments  to  the  total  exclusion  of  industrial, 
manual,  and  technical  training  tends  to  unfit  them  for  industrial 
work ;  and  in  real  life  most  work  is  industrial. 

The  problem  of  furnishing  well-trained  craftsmen,  or  rather 
journeymen  fitted  in  the  end  to  become  such,  is  not  simple — few 
problems  are  simple  in  the  actual  process  of  their  solution — and 
much  care  and  forethought  and  practical  common-sense  will  be 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  243 

needed,  in  order  to  work  it  out  in  a  fairly  satisfactory  manner. 
It  should  appeal  to  all  our  citizens.  I  am  glad  that  societies  have 
already  been  formed  to  promote  industrial  education,  and  that 
their  membership  includes  manufacturers  and  leaders  of  labor 
unions,  educators  and  publicists,  men  of  all  conditions  who  are 
interested  in  education  and  in  industry.  It  is  such  co-operation 
that  offers  most  hope  for  a  satisfactory  solution  of  the  question 
as  to  what  is  the  best  form  of  industrial  school,  as  to  the  means 
by  which  it  may  be  articulated  with  the  public-school  system, 
and  as  to  the  way  to  secure  for  the  boys  trained  therein  the 
opportunity  to  acquire  in  the  industries  the  practical  skill  which 
alone  can  make  them  finished  journeymen. 

THE    FARMER    IN    RELATION  TO   THE  WELFARE    OF   THE   WHOLE 

COUNTRY 

There  is  but  one  person  whose  welfare  is  as  vital  to  the  wel- 
fare of  the  whole  country  as  is  that  of  the  wage-worker  who  does 
manual  labor,  and  that  is  the  tiller  of  the  soil— the  farmer.     If 
there  is  one  lesson  taught  by  history,  it  is  that  the  permanent 
greatness  of  any  state  must  ultimately  depend  more  upon  the 
character  of  its  country  population  than  upon  anything  else. 
No  growth  of  cities,  no  growth  of  wealth,  can  make  up  for  a  loss 
in  either  the  number  or  the  character  of  the  farming  population. 
In  the  United  States  more  than  in  almost  any  other  country  we 
should  realize  this  and  should  prize  our  country  population. 
When  this  nation  began  its  independent  existence  it  was  as  a 
nation  of  farmers.    The  towns  were  small  and  were  for  the  most 
part  mere  seacoast  trading  and  fishing  ports.    The  chief  indus- 
try of  the  country  was  agriculture,  and  the  ordinary  citizen  was 
in  some  way  connected  with  it.     In  every  great  crisis  of  the  past 
a  peculiar  dependence  has  had  to  be  placed  upon  the  farming 
population;    and  this  dependence  has  hitherto  been  justified. 
But  it  cannot  be  justified  in  the  future  if  agriculture  is  permitted 
to  sink  in  the  scale  as  compared  with  other  employments.     We 


244        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

cannot  afford  to  lose  that  pre-eminently  typical  American,  the 
farmer  who  owns  his  own  farm. 

ECONOMIC  AND  SOCIAL  FACTORS  AFFECTING  RURAL  POPULATIONS 

Yet  it  would  be  idle  to  deny  that  in  the  last  half-century  there 
has  been  in  the  eastern  half  of  our  country  a  falling  off  in  the  rela- 
tive condition  of  the  tillers  of  the  soil,  although  signs  are  multiply- 
ing that  the  nation  has  waked  up  to  the  danger  and  is  preparing  to 
grapple  effectively  with  it.  East  of  the  Mississippi  and  north 
of  the  Ohio  and  the  Potomac  there  has  been  on  the  whole  an 
actual  shrinkage  in  the  number  of  the  farming  population  since 
the  Civil  War.  In  the  states  of  this  section  there  has  been  a 
growth  of  population — in  some  an  enormous  growth — but 
the  growth  has  taken  place  in  the  cities,  and  especially  in  the 
larger  cities.  This  has  been  due  to  certain  economic  factors, 
such  as  the  extension  of  railroads,  the  development  of  machinery, 
and  the  openings  for  industrial  success  afforded  by  the  unprece- 
dented growth  of  cities.  The  increased  faciHty  of  communi- 
cation has  resulted  in  the  withdrawal  from  rural  communities  of 
most  of  the  small,  widely  distributed  manufacturing  and  com- 
mercial operations  of  former  times,  and  the  substitution  therefor 
of  the  centralized  commercial  and  manufacturing  industries  of 
the  cities. 

The  chief  offset  to  the  various  tendencies  which  have  told 
against  the  farm  has  hitherto  come  in  the  rise  of  the  physical 
sciences  and  their  application  to  agricultural  practices  or  to  the 
rendering  of  country  conditions  more  easy  and  pleasant.  But 
these  countervailing  forces  are  as  yet  in  their  infancy.  As  com- 
pared with  a  few  decades  ago,  the  social  or  community  Hfe  of 
country  people  in  the  East  compares  less  well  than  it  formerly 
did  with  that  of  the  dwellers  in  cities.  Many  country  communi- 
ties have  lost  their  social  coherence,  their  sense  of  community 
interest.  In  such  communities  the  country  church,  for  instance, 
has  gone  backward,  both  as  a  social  and  a  rehgious  factor.     Now, 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  245 

we  cannot  insist  too  strongly  upon  the  fact  that  it  is  quite  as 
unfortunate  to  have  any  social  as  any  economic  falling  off.  It 
would  be  a  calamity  to  have  our  farms  occupied  by  a  lower  type 
of  people  than  the  hard-working,  self-respecting,  independent, 
and  essentially  manly  men  and  womanly  women  who  have  hither- 
to constituted  the  most  typically  American,  and  on  the  whole  the 
most  valuable  element  in  our  entire  nation.  Ambitious  native- 
born  young  men  and  women  who  now  tend  away  from  the  farm 
must  be  brought  back  to  it,  and  therefore  they  must  have  social 
as  well  as  economic  opportunities.  Everything  should  be  done 
to  encourage  the  growth  in  the  open  farming  country  of  such 
institutional  and  social  movements  as  will  meet  the  demand  of 
the  best  type  of  farmers.  There  should  be  libraries,  assembly 
halls,  social  organizations  of  all  kinds.  The  school  building  and 
the  teacher  in  the  school  building  should,  throughout  the  country 
districts,  be  of  the  very  highest  type,  able  to  fit  the  boys  and 
girls  not  merely  to  live  but  thoroughly  to  enjoy  and  to  make 
the  most  of  the  country.  The  country  church  must  be  revived. 
All  kinds  of  agencies,  from  rural  free  delivery  to  the  bicycle  and 
the  telephone,  should  be  utilized  to  the  utmost;  good  roads 
should  be  favored;  everything  should  be  done  to  make  it  easier 
for  the  farmer  to  lead  the  most  active  and  effective  intellectual, 
political,  and  economic  life. 

There  are  regions  of  large  extent  where  all  this,  or  most  of  this, 
has  already  been  realized ;  and  while  this  is  perhaps  especially 
true  of  great  tracts  of  farming  country  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
with  some  of  which  I  have  a  fairly  intimate  personal  knowledge, 
it  is  no  less  true  of  other  great  tracts  of  country  east  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. In  these  regions  the  church  and  the  school  flourish  as 
never  before ;  there  is  a  more  successful  and  more  varied  farming 
industry;  the  social  advantages  and  opportunities  are  greater 
than  ever  before;  life  is  fuller,  happier,  more  useful;  and  though 
the  work  is  more  effective  than  ever,  and  in  a  way  quite  as  hard, 
it  is  carried  on  so  as  to  give  more  scope  for  weU-used  leisure. 


246    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

My  plea  is  that  we  shall  all  try  to  make  more  nearly  universal 
the  conditions  that  now  obtain  in  the  most  favored  localities. 

PROGRESS  IN  AGRICULTURAL  SCIENCE 

Nothing  in  the  way  of  scientific  work  can  ever  take  the  place 
of  business  management  on  a  farm.  We  ought  all  of  us  to  teach 
ourselves  as  much  as  possible;  but  we  can  also  all  of  us  learn 
from  others ;  and  the  farmer  can  best  learn  how  to  manage  his  farm 
even  better  than  he  now  does  by  practice,  under  intelligent  super- 
vision on  his  own  soil  in  such  a  way  as  to  increase  his  income. 
This  is  the  kind  of  teaching  which  has  been  carried  on  in  Texas, 
Louisiana,  and  Arkansas  by  Doctor  Knapp,  of  the  national 
Department  of  Agriculture.  But  much  has  been  accomplished  by 
the  growth  of  what  is  broadly  designated  as  agricultural  science. 
This  has  been  developed  with  remarkable  rapidity  during  the 
last  quarter  of  a  century,  and  the  benefit  to  agriculture  has  been 
great.  As  was  inevitable,  there  was  much  error  and  much 
repetition  of  work  in  the  early  application  of  money  to  the  needs 
of  agricultural  colleges  and  experiment  stations  aKke  by  the 
nation  and  the  several  states.  Much  has  been  accomplished; 
but  much  more  can  be  accomplished  in  the  future.  The  prime 
need  must  always  be  for  real  research,  resulting  in  scientific 
conclusions  of  proved  soundness.  Both  the  farmer  and  the 
legislature  must  beware  of  invariably  demanding  immediate 
returns  from  investments  in  research  efforts.  It  is  probably 
one  of  our  faults  as  a  nation  that  we  are  too  impatient  to  wait  a 
sufficient  length  of  time  to  accomphsh  the  best  results;  and  in 
agriculture  effective  research  often,  although  not  always,  involves 
slow  and  long-continued  effort  if  the  results  are  to  be  trust- 
worthy. Wliile  apphed  science  in  agriculture  as  elsewhere  must 
be  judged  largely  from  the  standpoint  of  its  actual  return  in 
dollars,  yet  the  farmers  no  more  than  anyone  else  can  afford  to 
ignore  the  large  results  that  can  be  enjoyed  because  of  broader 
knowledge.     The  farmer  must  prepare  for  using  the  knowledge 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  247 

that  can  be  obtained  through  agricultural  colleges  by  insisting 
upon  a  constantly  more  practical  curriculum  in  the  schools  in 
which  his  children  are  taught.  He  must  not  lose  his  independ- 
ence, his  initiative,  his  rugged  self-sufficiency;  and  yet  he  must 
learn  to  work  in  the  heartiest  co-operation  with  his  fellows. 

EDUCATIONAL  AND  RESEARCH  WORK  Of  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF 
AGRICULTURE 

The  corner  stones  of  our  unexampled  prosperity  are,  on  the 
one  hand,  the  production  of  raw  material,  and  its  manufacture 
and  distribution  on  the  other.  These  two  great  groups  of  sub- 
jects are  represented  in  the  national  government  principally  by 
the  Department  of  Agriculture  and  the  Department  of  Com- 
merce and  Labor.  The  production  of  raw  material  from  the 
surface  of  the  earth  is  the  sphere  in  which  the  Department  of 
Agriculture  has  hitherto  achieved  such  notable  results.  Of  all 
the  executive  departments  there  is  no  other,  not  even  the  Post- 
Office,  which  comes  into  more  direct  and  beneficent  contact 
with  the  daily  life  of  the  people  than  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, and  none  whose  yield  of  practical  benefits  is  greater  in 
proportion  to  the  public  money  expended. 

But  great  as  its  services  have  been  in  the  past,  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  has  a  still  larger  field  of  usefulness  ahead. 
It  has  been  dealing  with  growing  crops.  It  must  hereafter  deal 
also  with  Uving  men.  Hitherto  agricultural  research,  instruc- 
tion, and  agitation  have  been  directed  almost  exclusively  toward 
the  production  of  wealth  from  the  soil.  It  is  time  to  adopt  In 
addition  a  new  point  of  view.  Hereafter  another  great  task 
before  the  national  Department  of  Agriculture  and  the  similar 
agencies  of  the  various  states  must  be  to  foster  agriculture  for 
its  social  results,  or,  in  other  words,  to  assist  in  bringing  about 
the  best  kind  of  hfe  on  the  farm  for  the  sake  of  producing  the 
best  kind  of  men.  The  government  must  recognize  the  far- 
reaching  importance  of  the  study  and  treatment  of  the  problems 


248    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

of  farm  life,  alike  from  the  social  and  the  economic  standpoints; 
and  the  federal  and  state  departments  of  agriculture  should 
co-operate  at  every  point. 

The  farm  grows  the  raw  material  for  the  food  and  clothing  of 
all  our  citizens;  it  supports  directly  almost  half  of  them;  and 
nearly  half  the  children  of  the  United  States  are  born  and  brought 
up  on  farms.  How  can  the  Hfe  of  the  farm  family  be  made  less 
solitary,  fuller  of  opportunity,  freer  from  drudgery,  more  com- 
fortable, happier,  and  more  attractive  ?  Such  a  result  is  most 
earnestly  to  be  desired.  How  can  life  on  the  farm  be  kept  on  the 
highest  level,  and  where  it  is  not  already  on  that  level,  be  so 
improved,  dignified,  and  brightened  as  to  awaken  and  keep  alive 
the  pride  and  loyalty  of  the  farmer's  boys  and  girls,  of  the  farm- 
er's wife,  and  of  the  farmer  himself?  How  can  a  compelling 
desire  to  live  on  the  farm  be  aroused  in  the  children  that  are  born 
on  the  farm?  All  these  questions  are  of  vital  importance,  not 
only  to  the  farmer,  but  to  the  whole  nation;  and  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  must  do  its  share  in  answering  them. 

The  drift  toward  the  city  is  largely  determined  by  the  superior 
social  opportunities  to  be  enjoyed  there,  by  the  greater  vividness 
and  movement  of  city  life.  Considered  from  the  point  of  view 
of  natural  efficiency,  the  problem  of  the  farm  is  as  much  a  prob- 
lem of  attractiveness  as  it  is  a  problem  of  prosperity.  It  has 
ceased  to  be  merely  a  problem  of  growing  wheat  and  corn  and 
cattle.  The  problem  of  production  has  not  ceased  to  be  funda- 
mental, but  it  is  no  longer  final;  just  as  learning  to  read  and 
write  and  cipher  are  fundamental,  but  are  no  longer  the  final 
ends  of  education.  We  hope  ultimately  to  double  the  average 
yield  of  wheat  and  corn  per  acre;  it  will  be  a  great  achievement; 
but  it  is  even  more  important  to  double  the  desirability,  comfort, 
and  standing  of  the  farmer's  life. 

We  must  consider,  then,  not  merely  how  to  produce,  but  also 
how  production  affects  the  producer.  In  the  past  we  have  given 
but  scant  attention  to  the  social  side  of  farm  life.     We  should 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  249 

study  much  more  closely  than  has  yet  been  done  the  social  organi- 
zation of  the  country,  and  inquire  whether  its  institutions  are 
now  really  as  useful  to  the  farmer  as  they  should  be,  or  whether 
they  should  not  be  given  a  new  direction  and  a  new  impulse, 
for  no  farmer's  Hfe  should  he  merely  within  the  boundary  of  his 
farm.  This  study  must  be  of  the  East  and  the  West,  the  North 
and  the  South;  for  the  needs  vary  from  place  to  place. 

First  in  importance,  of  course,  comes  the  effort  to  secure  the 
mastery  of  production.  Great  strides  toward  this  end  have 
already  been  taken  over  the  larger  part  of  the  United  States; 
much  remains  to  be  done,  but  much  has  been  done;  and  the 
debt  of  the  nation  to  the  various  agencies  of  agricultural  im- 
provement for  so  great  an  advance  is  not  to  be  overstated.  But 
we  cannot  halt  here.  The  benefits  of  high  social  organization 
include  such  advantages  as  ease  of  communication,  better 
educational  facihties,  increased  comfort  of  living,  and  those 
opportunities  for  social  and  intellectual  life  and  intercourse, 
of  special  value  to  the  young  people  and  to  the  women,  which 
are  as  yet  chiefly  to  be  had  in  centers  of  population.  All  this 
must  be  brought  within  the  reach  of  the  farmers  who  live  on  the 
farms,  of  the  men  whose  labor  feeds  and  clothes  the  towns  and 
cities. 

BENEFITS  RESULTING  FROM  CO-OPERATION 

Farmers  must  learn  the  vital  need  of  co-operation  with  one 
another.  Next  to  this  comes  co-operation  with  the  government 
and  the  government  can  best  give  its  aid  through  associations  of 
farmers  rather  than  through  the  individual  farmer;  for  there  is 
no  greater  agricultural  problem  than  that  of  delivering  to  the 
farmer  the  large  body  of  agricultural  knowledge  which  has  been 
accumulated  by  the  national  and  state  governments  and  by  the 
agricultural  colleges  and  schools.  Nowhere  has  the  govern- 
ment worked  to  better  advantage  than  in  the  South,  where  the 
work  done  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture  in  connection  with 
the  cotton  growers  of  the  southwestern  states  has  been  phenom- 


250        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

enal  in  its  value.  The  farmers  in  the  region  affected  by  the 
boll  weevil,  in  the  course  of  the  efforts  to  fight  it,  have  succeeded 
in  developing  a  most  scientific  husbandry,  so  that  in  many 
places  the  boll  weevil  became  a  blessing  in  disguise.  Not  only  did 
the  industry  of  farming  become  of  very  much  greater  economic 
value  in  its  direct  results,  but  it  became  immensely  more  interest- 
ing to  thousands  of  families.  The  meetings  at  which  the  new 
subjects  of  interest  were  discussed  grew  to  have  a  distinct  social 
value,  while  with  the  farmers  were  joined  the  merchants  and 
bankers  of  the  neighborhood.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  every 
such  successful  effort  to  organize  the  farmer  gives  a  great  stim- 
ulus to  the  admirable  educational  work  which  is  being  done  in 
the  southern  states,  as  elsewhere,  to  prepare  young  people  for  an 
agricultural  life.  It  is  greatly  to  be  wished  that  the  communities 
whence  these  students  are  drawn  and  to  which  they  either  return 
or  should  return,  could  be  co-operatively  organized;  that  is, 
that  associations  of  farmers  could  be  organized,  primarily  for 
business  purposes,  but  also  with  social  ends  in  view.  This 
woiild  mean  that  the  returned  students  from  the  institutions 
of  technical  learning  would  find  their  environment  prepared 
to  profit  to  the  utmost  by  the  improvements  in  technical  meth- 
ods which  they  had  learned. 

The  people  of  our  farming  regions  must  be  able  to  combine 
among  themselves  as  the  most  efficient  means  of  protecting 
their  industry  from  the  highly  organized  interests  which  now 
surround  them  on  every  side.  A  vast  field  is  open  for  work  by 
co-operative  associations  of  farmers  in  dealing  with  the  relation 
of  the  farm  to  transportation  and  to  the  distribution  and  manu- 
facture of  raw  materials.  It  is  only  through  such  combination 
that  American  farmers  can  develop  to  the  full  their  economic 
and  social  power.  Combination  of  this  kind  has,  in  Denmark, 
for  instance,  resulted  in  bringing  the  people  back  to  the  land, 
and  has  enabled  the  Danish  peasant  to  compete  in  extraordinary 
fashion,  not  only  at  home  but  in  foreign  countries,  with  all  rivals. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  251 

KIND    OF    EDUCATION    NEEDED 

Agricultural  colleges  and  farmers'  institutes  have  done  much 
in  instruction  and  inspiration;  they  have  stood  for  the  nobiUty 
of  labor  and  the  necessity  of  keeping  the  muscles  and  the  brain 
in  training  for  industry.  They  have  developed  technical  depart- 
ments of  high  practical  value.  They  seek  to  provide  for  the 
people  on  the  farms  an  equipment  so  broad  and  thorough  as  to 
fit  them  for  the  highest  requirements  of  our  citizenship ;  so  that 
they  can  establish  and  maintain  country  homes  of  the  best  type 
and  create  and  sustain  a  country  civilization  more  than  equal  to 
that  of  the  city.  The  men  they  train  must  be  able  to  meet  the 
strongest  business  competition,  at  home  or  abroad,  and  they  can 
do  this  only  if  they  are  trained,  not  alone  in  the  various  lines  of 
husbandry,  but  in  successful  economic  management.  These 
colleges,  Uke  the  state  experiment  stations,  should  carefully 
study  and  make  known  the  needs  of  each  section,  and  should  try 
to  provide  remedies  for  what  is  wrong. 

The  education  to  be  obtained  in  these  colleges  should  create 
as  intimate  relationship  as  is  possible  between  the  theory  of 
learning  and  the  facts  of  actual  life.  Educational  establish- 
ments should  produce  highly  trained  scholars,  of  course ;  but  in 
a  country  like  ours,  where  the  educational  estabhshments  are  so 
numerous,  it  is  folly  to  think  that  their  main  purpose  is  to  pro- 
duce these  highly  trained  scholars.  Without  in  the  least  dis- 
paraging scholarship  and  learning — on  the  contrary,  while  giving 
hearty  and  ungrudging  admiration  and  support  to  the  compara- 
tively few  whose  primary  work  should  be  creative  scholarship — 
it  must  be  remembered  that  the  ordinary  graduate  of  our  colleges 
should  be  and  must  be,  primarily,  a  man  and  not  a  scholar. 
Education  should  not  confine  itself  to  books.  It  must  train 
executive  power  and  try  to  create  that  right  public  opinion  which 
is  the  most  potent  factor  in  the  proper  solution  of  all  political 
and  social  questions.  Book-learning  is  very  important,  but  it 
is  by  no  means  everything ;  and  we  shall  never  get  the  right  idea 


252    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

of  education  until  we  definitely  understand  that  a  man  may  be 
well  trained  in  book-learning  and  yet,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the 
word  and  for  all  practical  purposes,  be  utterly  uneducated; 
while  a  man  of  comparatively  little  book-learning  may,  never- 
theless, in  essentials  have  a  good  education. 

IMPROVEMENT  OF  CONDITIONS  AFFECTING  COUNTRY  LIFE 

It  is  true  that  agriculture  in  the  United  States  has  reached  a 
very  high  level  of  prosperity;  but  we  cannot  afford  to  disregard 
the  signs  which  teach  us  that  there  are  influences  operating 
against  the  estabUshment  or  retention  of  our  country  life  upon 
a  really  sound  basis.  The  overextensive  and  wasteful  cultiva- 
tion of  pioneer  days  must  stop  and  give  place  to  a  more  econom- 
ical system.  Not  only  the  physical  but  the  ethical  needs  of  the 
people  of  the  country  districts  must  be  considered.  In  our 
country  life  there  must  be  social  and  intellectual  advantages  as 
well  as  a  fair  standard  of  physical  comfort.  There  must  be  in 
the  country,  as  in  the  town,  a  multiplication  of  movements  for 
intellectual  advancement  and  social  betterment.  We  must  try 
to  raise  the  average  of  farm  life,  and  we  must  also  try  to  develop 
it  so  that  it  shall  offer  exceptional  chances  for  the  exceptional 
man. 

Of  course  the  essential  things  after  all  are  those  which  concern 
all  of  us  as  men  and  women,  no  matter  whether  we  Hve  in  the 
town  or  the  country,  and  no  matter  what  our  occupations  may 
be.  The  root  problems  are  much  the  same  for  all  of  us,  widely 
though  they  may  differ  in  outward  manifestation.  The  most 
important  conditions  that  tell  for  happiness  within  the  home  are 
the  same  for  the  town  and  the  country ;  and  the  relations  between 
employer  and  employee  are  not  always  satisfactory  on  the  farm 
any  more  than  in  the  factory.  All  over  the  country  there  is  a 
constant  complaint  of  paucity  of  farm  labor.  Without  attempting 
to  go  into  all  the  features  of  this  question  I  would  hke  to  point  out 
that  you  can  never  get  the  right  kind,  the  best  kind,  of  labor  if 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  253 

you  offer  employment  only  for  a  few  months,  foF  no  man  worth 
anything  will  permanently  accept  a  system  which  leaves  him 
in  idleness  for  half  the  year. 

A  WORD  REGARDING  THE  FARMER'S  FAMILY 

And  most  important  of  all,  I  want  to  say  a  special  word  on 
behalf  of  the  one  who  is  too  often  the  very  hardest  worked  laborer 
on  the  farm— the  farmer's  wife.     Reform,  like  charity,  while  it 
should  not  end  at  home,  should  certainly  begin  there;  and  the 
man,  whether  he  lives  on  a  farm  or  in  a  town,  who  is  anxious  to  see 
better  social  and  economic  conditions  prevail  through  the  coun- 
try at  large,  should  be  exceedingly  careful  that  they  prevail  first 
as  regards  his  own  womankind.     I  emphatically  believe  that 
for  the  great  majority  of  women  the  really  indispensable  industry 
in  which  they  should  engage  is  the  industry  of  the  home.     There 
are  exceptions  of  course;  but  exactly  as  the  first  duty  of  the  nor- 
mal man  is  the  duty  of  being  the  home  maker,  so  the  first  duty 
of  the  normal  woman  is  to  be  the  home  keeper;  and  exactly  as  no 
other  learning  is  as  important  for  the  average  man  as  the  learning 
which  will  teach  him  how  to  make  his  livelihood,  so  no  other 
learning  is  as  important  for  the  average  woman  as  the  learning 
which  will  make  her  a  good  housewife  and  mother.     But  this 
does  not  mean  that  she  should  be  an  overworked  drudge.     I 
have  hearty  sympathy  with  the  movement  to  better  the  condition 
of  the  average  tiller  of  the  soil,  of  the  average  wageworker,  and  I 
have  an  even  heartier  sympathy  and  applause  for  the  movement 
which  is  to  better  the  condition  of  their  respective  wives.     There 
is  plenty  that  is  hard  and  rough  and  disagreeable  in  the  necessary 
work  of  actual  life;   and  under  the  best  circumstances,  and  no 
matter  how  tender  and  considerate  the  husband,  the  wife  will 
have  at  least  her  full  share  of  work  and  worry  and  anxiety; 
but  if  the  man  is  worth  his  salt  he  will  try  to  take  as  much  as 
possible  of  the  burden  off  the  shoulders  of  his  helpmate.     There 
is  nothing  Utopian  in  the  movement;  all  that  is  necessary  is  to 


254        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

strive  toward  raising  the  average,  both  of  men  and  women,  to 
the  level  on  which  the  highest  type  of  family  now  stands,  among 
American  farmers,  among  American  skilled  mechanics,  among 
American  citizens  generally ;  for  in  all  the  world  there  is  no 
better  and  healthier  home  life,  no  finer  factory  of  individual 
character,  nothing  more  representative  of  what  is  best  and  most 
characteristic  in  American  life  than  that  which  exists  in  the  higher 
type  of  American  family ;  and  this  higher  type  of  family  is  to  be 
found  everywhere  among  us,  and  is  the  property  of  no  special 
group  of  citizens. 

The  best  crop  is  the  crop  of  children ;  the  best  products  of  the 
farm  are  the  men  and  women  raised  thereon;  and  the  most  in- 
structive and  practical  treatises  on  farming,  necessary  though 
they  be,  are  no  more  necessary  than  the  books,  which  teach  us  our 
duty  to  our  neighbor,  and  above  all  to  the  neighbor  who  is  of  our 
own  household.  You  young  men  and  women  of  the  agricultural 
and  industrial  colleges  and  schools — and,  for  that  matter,  you 
who  go  to  any  college  or  school — must  have  some  time  for  light 
reading;  and  there  is  some  light  reading  quite  as  useful  as  heavy 
reading,  provided,  of  course,  that  you  do  not  read  in  a  spirit 
of  mere  vacuity.  Aside  from  the  great  classics,  and  thinking 
only  of  the  many  healthy  and  stimulating  books  of  the  day,  it 
is  easy  to  pick  out  many  which  can  reaUy  serve  as  tracts,  because 
they  possess  what  many  avowed  tracts  and  treatises  do  not,  the 
prime  quality  of  being  interesting.  You  will  learn  the  root 
principles  of  self-help  and  helpfulness  toward  others  from  Mrs. 
Wiggs  oj  the  Cabbage  Patch,  just  as  much  as  from  any  formal 
treatise  on  charity;  you  will  learn  as  much  sound  social  and 
industrial  doctrine  from  Octave  Thanet's  stories  of  farmers  and 
wage  workers  as  from  avowed  sociological  and  economic  studies ; 
and  I  cordially  recommend  the  first  chapter  of  Aunt  Jam  oj 
Kentucky  for  use  as  a  tract  in  all  families  v/here  the  men  folks 
tend  to  selfish  or  thoughtless  or  overbearing  disregard  of  the 
rights  of  their  womankind. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  255 

Do  not  misunderstand  me.  I  have  not  the  sHghtest  sym- 
pathy with  those  hysterical  and  foolish  creatures  who  wish  women 
to  attain  to  easy  lives  by  shirking  their  duties.  I  have  as  hearty 
a  contempt  for  the  woman  who  shirks  her  duty  of  bearing  and 
rearing  the  children,  of  doing  her  full  housewife's  work,  as  I 
have  for  the  man  who  is  an  idler,  who  shirks  his  duty  of  earning 
a  living  for  himself  and  for  his  children,  or  who  is  selfish  or 
brutal  toward  his  wife  and  children.  I  believe  in  the  happiness 
that  comes  from  the  performance  of  duty,  not  from  the  avoidance 
of  duty.  But  I  believe  also  in  trying,  each  of  us,  as  strength  is 
given  us,  to  bear  one  another's  burdens;  and  this  especially 
in  our  own  homes.  No  outside  training,  no  co-operation,  no 
government  aid  or  direction  can  take  the  place  of  a  strong  and 
upright  character ;  of  goodness  of  heart  combined  with  clearness 
of  head,  and  that  strength  and  toughness  of  fiber  necessary  to 
wring  success  from  a  rough  work-a-day  world.  Nothing  out- 
side of  home  can  take  the  place  of  home.  The  school  is  an 
invaluable  adjunct  to  the  home,  but  it  is  a  wretched  substitute 
for  it.  The  family  relation  is  the  most  fundamental,  the  most 
important  of  all  relations.  No  leader  in  church  or  state,  in 
science  or  art  or  industry,  however  great  his  achievement,  takes 
the  place  of  the  mothers,  "who  are  the  first  of  sovereigns  and  the 
most  divine  of  priests." 


CONFERRING  OF  DEGREES 


Following  President  Roosevelt's  address,  Professor  Warren 
Babcock  formally  announced  the  completion  of  their  college 
work  by  the  following  persons,  ninety-six  in  number : 


Allen,  W.  B.,  e 
Andrews,  Helen,  w 
Angell,  Anna,  w 
Angell,  I.  D.,  e 
Ashley,  Helen,  w 
Bailey,  Eva,  w 
Baker,  J.  L.,  a 
Beckwith,  H.  R.,  a 
Benham,  Rachel,  w 
Boulard,  E.  N.,  a 
Brass,  L.  C,  e 
Brown,  G.  A.,  a 
Brown,  H.  L.,  a 
Burley,  G.  A.,  e 
Button,  J.  C,  a 
Cade,  C.  M.,  e 
Campbell,  B.  G.,  e 
Canfield,  R.  S.,  e 
Carpenter,  A.  J.,  e 
Clise,  B.  B.,  a 
Craig,  Myrde,  w 
DeLange,  W.  W.,  e 
Delzell,  Ruth  E.,  w 
Borland,  L.  R.,/ 
Doty,  S.  W.,  a 
Dudley,  G.  C,  e 
Ellis,  D.  H.,  a 
Ellis,  George  H.,  e 
Fowler,  E.  C,  a 
Gasser,  W.  W.,  e 
Glazier,  H.  I.,  e 
Goetz,  C.  H.,/ 


CLASS  OF  1907 
Goldsmith,  D.  R.,  e 
Goldsmith,  P.  V.,  a 
Gould,  F.  A.,  e 
Granger,  C.  M.,/ 
Gregg,  O.  I.,  a 
Grover,  E.  L.,  a 
Hart,  W.  L.,  a 
Hayden,  L.  N.,  e 
Hayes,  G.  B.,  e 
Heinrich,  G.  A.,  e 
Hitchcock,  L.  B.,  e 
Hitchcock,  W.  W.,  t 
Hudson,  R.  S.,  a 
Johnson,  M.  F.,  e 
Johnson,  W.  E.,  e 
Kinney,  Inez  M.,  w 
Kramer,  H.  T.,  e 
Kratz,  O.  A.,  e 
Krause,  E.  J.,  a 
Kxentel,  Calla,  w 
Lilly,  S.  B.,  e 
Liverance,  W.  B.,  a 
McHatton,  T.  H.,  o 
McNaughton,  C.  P.,  o 
Martin,  L.  Belle,  w 
Miller,  Violet,  w 
Minard,  R.  F.,  e 
Moomaw,  D.,  e 
Myers,  J.  L.,  e 
Palacio,  A.  G.,  a 
Parsons,  I.  E.,  a 


Pennell,  R.  L.,  a 
Perry,  N.  C,  a 
Piper,  W.  E.,  e 
Pokorny,  Ida,  Mrs.,  w 
Post,  O.  C,  e 
Pratt,  A.  C,  e 
Rinkle,  L.  G.,  a 
Robinson,  E.  P.,  a 
Roby,  Edith,  w 
Rounds,  Florence,  w 
Rowe,  C.  L.,  e 
Seller,  R.,  e 
ShutUeworth,  P.  H.,  a 
Smith,  G.  W.,  a 
Smith,  L.  E.,  e 
Stewart,  B.  C,  e 
Stone,  H.  G.,  a 
Taylor,  E.  H.,  e 
Thatcher,  F.  E.  N.,  e 
Towne,  E.  A.,  e 
Towner,  A.  A.,  c 
Van  Alstine,  E.,  <j 
Van  Halteran,  A.  S.,  e 
Verran,  G.,  e 
Waite,  R.  H.,  a 
Warden,  W.,  a 
Weeks,  H.  B.,  a 
White,  O.  K.,  a 
Wilcox,  J.  C,  a 
Willson,  E.  A.,  o 
Wilson,  A.  W.,  e 
Wright,  L.  H.,  e 


Peck,  C.  B.,  e 

The  class,  seated  immediately  below  the  speaker's  platform, 

256 


SEMI  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  257 

arose,  formed  in  line,  and  passed  across  the  platform,  receiving 
the  diplomas  from  the  hand  of  President  Roosevelt. 

Of  those  graduating,  thirty-six  completed  the  work  in  agri- 
culture, three  in  forestry,  forty-three  in  engineering,  and  four- 
teen in  home  economics. 

After  the  presentation  of  diplomas  to  the  graduating  class 
by  President  Roosevelt,  the  honory  degree  of  Doctor  of  Science 
(D.Sc.)  was  conferred  by  President  Jonathan  Le  Moyne  Snyder 
upon  each  of  the  following  gentlemen: 

William  Arnon  Henry,  President  of  the  Agricultural  College  of  Wisconsin. 
Charles  Fay  Wheeler,  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture. 
Henry  Clay  WmiE,  President  of  the  Agricultural  College  of  Georgia. 
Charles  Franklin  Curtiss,  Dean  of  the  Agricultural  Department  and 

Director  of  the  Experiment  Station  of  the  State  College  of  Iowa. 
Thomas  Forsyth  Hunt,  Dean  of  the  Agricultural  Department  and 

Director  of  the  Experiment  Station  of  Pennsylvania  State  College. 
William  Warner  Tracy,  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture. 
GiFFORD  PiNCHOT,  Chief  Forester  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  of 

the  United  States. 

The  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  (LL.D.)  was  con- 
ferred upon  each  of  the  following  gentlemen : 
James  Burrill  Angell,  President  of  the  University  of  Michigan. 
Eugene  Davenport,  Dean  of  the  Agricultural  College  and  Director  of 

the  Experiment  Station  of  the  University  of  Illinois. 
WiNTHROP  Ellsworth  Stone,  President  of  the  Purdue  University. 
Herbert  Winslow  Collingwood,  Editor  of  the  "Rural  New  Yorker." 
Mortimer  Elwyn  Cooley,  of  the  Engineering  Department  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Michigan. 
WmTMAN  Howard  Jordan,  Director  of  the  Experiment  Station  at  Geneva, 

N.  Y. 
Enoch  Albert  Bryan,  President  of  the  Agricultural  College  of  the  State 

of  Washington. 
RoLLA  Clinton  Carpenter,  of  the  Engineering  Department  of  Cornell 

University. 
James  Wilson,  Secretary  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture. 

As  each  of  the  gentlemen  to  receive  an  honorary  degree  was 

announced  by  Professor  Babcock,  he  was  escorted  to  the  front 


258        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

of  the  platform  by  Dr.  Thomas  C.  Blaisdell,  acting  as  College 
Herald,  and  was  presented  to  President  Snyder,  who,  in  con- 
ferring the  degrees,  spoke  as  follows : 

William  Arnon  Henry: 

It  falls  to  the  lot  of  few  men  to  render  to  the  people  of  their  state  such 
valuable  service  as  you  have  rendered  to  the  citizens  of  Wisconsin.  Start- 
ing with  very  little  material  equipment,  you  have,  by  your  untiring  energy, 
built  up  a  great  agricultural  school  and  an  experiment  station  of  the  first 
rank.  As  an  author  and  as  a  contributor  to  the  agricultural  press,  you 
have  rendered  untold  service  to  the  stockmen  of  the  world.  The  oldest 
agricultural  college  of  this  country  congratulates  you  and  the  people  of 
your  state  on  your  great  achievements,  and,  through  me,  confers  upon  you 
the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Science  and  presents  you  with  its  diploma. 

Charles  Fay  Wheeler: 

Your  training  and  skill  as  a  systematic  botanist  entitles  you  to  special 
recognition  by  your  Alma  Mater.  On  recommendation  of  the  faculty  and 
by  the  authority  of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture,  to  whom  you  rendered 
valuable  services  for  many  years  as  a  member  of  this  faculty,  I  confer  upon 
you  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Science  and  present  you  with  the  diploma  of 
the  College. 

Henry  Clay  White: 

You  have,  as  an  investigator  and  administrator,  rendered  great  service, 
both  to  agricultural  science  and  to  agricultural  education.  The  land-grant 
colleges  owe  you  a  debt  of  gratitude  for  your  zeal  and  successful  efforts 
in  their  behalf  before  the  national  Congress.  The  state  in  which  you  hold 
a  responsible  position  as  the  president  of  its  agricultural  college,  and  in 
which  you  wield  a  wide  influence,  has  surpassed  all  other  states  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  agricultural  secondary  schools.  As  a  scientist  and  as  a  man 
of  great  ability  in  public  afiFairs,  this  College  confers  upon  you  the  degree 
of  Doctor  of  Science,  and  presents  you  with  its  diploma. 

Charles  Franklin  Curtiss: 

This  College  confers  upon  you  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Science  in  recog- 
nition, not  only  of  your  ability  as  a  scientist  and  administrator,  as  is  evi- 
denced in  the  rapid  development  of  the  Agricultural  Department  and 
Experiment  Station  over  which  you  preside,  but  also  in  recognition  of  the 
great  service  which  you  have  rendered  to  the  interests  of  live-stock  husbandry 
in  the  Middle  West.     I  also  present  you  with  its  diploma. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  259 

Thomas  Forsyth  Hunt: 

In  your  chosen  field  you  early  carried  forward  experiments  which  have 
resulted  in  great  good  to  the  farmers  of  the  country.  Your  textbook  on 
the  teaching  of  agronomy  placed  for  the  first  time  the  knov/ledge  of  this 
subject  in  pedagogical  form.  You  have  been  a  very  successful  teacher  of 
young  men.  Your  work  as  an  investigator,  as  an  author,  and  as  a  teacher 
prompts  this  College  to  confer  upon  you,  through  me,  the  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Science. 
William  Warner  Tracy: 

Loyal  son  of  this  College,  you  have  gained  by  your  persistent  efforts 
through  many  years  a  high  rank  in  that  field  of  science  which  you  have 
made  your  life  work.  By  your  discoveries  you  have  broadened  the  field 
of  human  knowledge.  For  these  reasons  your  Alma  Mater  takes  great 
pleasure  in  conferring  upon  you  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Science,  and  in 
presenting  you  with  its  diploma. 
Gifford  Pinchot: 

A  graduate  of  Yale  University,  a  student  of  forestry  for  years  in  the 
great  universities  of  the  Old  World,  and  for  the  past  nine  years  chief  forester 
of  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  Washington:  In  recognition  of  your 
ability  as  a  student  of  great  forestry  problems,  of  your  bold  initiative,  and 
of  your  courageous  and  sane  methods  of  administration,  we  confer  upon 
you  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Science,  and  present  you  with  the  appropriate 
diploma  of  the  College. 

James  Burrill  Angell: 

This  College  confers  upon  you  an  honorary  degree,  not  with  the  expecta- 
tion that  it  will  add  to  the  many  similar  honors  which  you  have  received 
from  the  great  universities  of  the  country,  but  that  we  may  express  to  you 
our  appreciation  and  sincere  gratitude  for  the  work  you  have  done  for  the 
people  of  the  state  and  for  the  kindly  feeling  and  most  helpful  spirit  that 
you  have  always  shown  toward  this  institution.  This  College  honors  itself 
in  conferring  upon  you,  the  first  citizen  of  Michigan,  as  v/ell  as  its  greatest 
educator,  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  and  in  presenting  you  v/ith  its 
diploma. 

Eugene  Davenport: 

In  you  this  College  desires  to  honor  today  one  of  its  sons  who  has  shov/n 
rare  ability  as  an  organizer  and  administrator.  You  have  developed  with 
wonderful  rapidity  a  great  agricultural  school  v/hich,  in  years  to  come, 
must  render  valuable  service  to  scientific  and  practical  agriculture.  I  take 
pleasure,  on  the  nomination  of  the  faculty  and  in  behalf  of  the  Board  of 


26o    MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

Control,  in  conferring  upon  you  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  and  in 
presenting  to  you  the  diploma  of  the  College. 

Winthrop  Ellsworth  Stone: 

In  recognition  of  the  great  service  you  have  rendered  to  science  as  an 
investigator  and  to  technical  education  as  president  of  one  of  the  leading 
land-grant  colleges  of  this  country,  this  institution  confers  upon  you  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  and  presents  to  you  its  diploma. 
Herbert  Winslow  Collingwood: 

As  you  have  for  many  years  rendered  most  valuable  service  to  agri- 
culture as  editor  of  one  of  its  leading  journals,  I  have  the  pleasure  of  con- 
ferring upon  you,  in  behalf  of  your  Alma  Mater,  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Laws,  and  of  presenting  you  with  its  diploma. 
Mortimer  Elwyn  Cooley: 

In  recognition  of  your  services  as  an  expert  in  determining  railway 
values,  of  your  executive  ability  in  developing  the  great  engineering  depart- 
ment of  our  university,  and  of  your  reputation  as  an  engineer,  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  our  faculty,  by  the  authority  of  the  Board  of  Control,  I  confer 
upon  you  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  and  present  you  with  the  diploma 
of  the  College. 
Whitman  Howard  Jordan: 

You  have,  by  your  work  as  an  investigator,  added  much  to  the  store 
of  agricultural  knov/ledge;  v/hile  as  an  administrator  you  have  developed, 
by  your  rare  ability,  the  great  experiment  station  of  the  Empire  State,  which 
stands  today  without  a  peer.  The  College  confers  upon  you  the  degree 
of  Doctor  of  Laws,  and  presents  to  you  its  diploma. 

Enoch  Albert  Bryan: 

Upon  you,  conspicuous  for  moral  courage,  a  scholar,  a  teacher  of  power, 
a  builder  of  a  great  agricultural  college  in  the  far  Northwest,  on  recommen- 
dation of  the  faculty  and  by  the  authority  of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture, 
I  confer  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Lav/s,  and  present  to  you  the  diploma  of 
the  College. 
Rolla  Clinton  Carpenter: 

After  graduating  from  this  institution,  you  rendered  it  valuable  service 
for  many  years  as  a  member  of  its  faculty.  You  have  since  served  in  a 
broader  field  as  a  member  of  the  faculty  of  a  renowned  university.  Your 
engineering  skill  and  your  ability  as  a  designer  of  great  construction  render 
you  worthy  of  special  recognition.  Your  Alma  Mater  has  great  pleasure 
in  conferring  upon  you  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  and  in  presenting  you 
with  the  diploma  of  the  College. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  261 

James  Wilson: 

You  have  been  a  mighty  force  in  the  agricultural  world  during  the  past 
ten  years.  The  great  department  over  which  you  so  ably  preside  has  made 
wondrous  strides.  You  have  assembled  a  large  body  of  scientists  who  are 
rapidly  extending  the  boundaries  of  human  knowledge  and  making  it  more 
easy  each  day  for  the  farmer  to  work  in  harmony  with  nature's  lav/s.  You 
have  done  more  than  any  other  man  to  popularize  agriculture.  This 
College  has  great  pleasure  in  conferring  upon  you  the  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Laws,  and  in  presenting  you  with  its  diploma. 

With  the  overture  from  Cyrano,  rendered  by  the  Bach 
Orchestra,  the  official  program  of  the  Semi-Centennial  Celebra- 
tion came  to  a  close. 

In  the  evening  each  of  the  literary  societies  of  the  College 
held  a  banquet  and  reunion,  at  which  many  of  the  alumni  re- 
newed and  reviewed  old  acquaintances  and  pleasures,  thus 
closing  and  consecrating  the  Semi-Centennial  Celebration  at 
the  altar  of  friendship. 


CONGRATULATORY  ADDRESSES 

PRESENTED   BY 

DELEGATES  FROM   OTHER  INSTITUTIONS 
AND  LEARNED   SOCIETIES 


IMl^ 


0fflia^h^;in,:Tnt>tht'prt;HtViit  ;iiii>jthinxlhT  i»f 


J  lu-  ''fii>ari>  ff  g  rui-hxi;  lltC  j1  rCf^it'ifltK  .ini*  HlC_ 
iV;iiiiltiT  of fiTHi-ll  li  iiii'iTAih^  lintVr  Hnji^ 

^rorilr.il  i-iMia,r.ilul;iHi'ii:.  cit  lllf  ii'iripUhi>n  of 

till  tir::'t  liiilf  Ctiiliint  of  Mil  ivi^-Kiiii-  of  tliHfi  ulim-.m 
Aa,riilfunirtoN'"ai  ■   J  In'  o)ii.-;l  i\i:-liiui  a'llLgc  o( 
;iaricu!|iity  in  tin  11  ink- 1'*  J'hifii^ ,  t\  liii?  I'ooii  a 
loui^cr  in  Hic  tcjchuia  ofAariniUurt-  :iiu>tHt'xptTi- 
incith  mil*  ini'0'^tii\;irioii ;  ;ini<  Hi-  ^uccce^i'i-'  in  -.til 
HtC!*c  ficli^A  li:u>c  I'lVii  noKu'orilut.jIfo   mirifti  cx- 


ptTimcit^:>  lit  prtngogti  :i^  iinplit:!*  to  rtoriculhiiv 
hai'i  !>t-i-it  of  ini->-!iiiKi!'lc  i-.-iliu-  to  all  htti-r  otYorK 
^l  tlTcjt";iiu[tij  of  lilcVolli-.u-  li:uaintlut\-i''  k-.icli- 
oiv  ii'liot-t  iiifiiioncc  ill  till.-  tniiiiing of  lucn for iiouot;- 
or  in:-titiitioili>  h.-ic--  k'cii  potont  :iiit''  U'it'ir^prt-.ti'. 

"Q'oriuirilnii'ort-itiT  truft?  thjtt  tho  I'lituiv  of  the 
IHii'liia-.m  Aarii.iiltur:d(!"oll<i.u'  umII  rtali:i:  tlu'  hopo^ 
■■int'  at^pinitioiii-  ot  itr  foiiiit'oiv-.-.ini*  that  it^mc;i!>urc 
of  f'Ui'iv?*  u'ill  continue  to  incroa:>c. 


■#««tant  I'f  lllf  *ti.  ullti 


jIHtaca  ."flirtt'ttn-fa 


PHOTOGRAPHIC  FACSIMILE  'REDUCED)  OF  THE  GREETINGS 
FROM  CORNELL  UNIVERSITY 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  265 


A 

EE 
I 

AMERICAN  INSTITUTE  OF  ELECTRICAL  ENGINEERS 

The  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  extends 
congratulations  to  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College  on  the 
completion  of  her  fifty  years  of  splendid  service  through  high 
achievements  in  science  and  the  mechanic  arts  and  also  through 
the  many  distinguished  sons  she  has  furnished  to  disseminate 
her  fruitful  teachings  throughout  the  land. 

Engineers'  Building,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
May  31,  1907 


266        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAT.  COLLEGE 

THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERING 

PRESENTED   BY  DELEGATE   PAUL  M.   CHAMBERLAIN 

To  the  President  and  Board  of  Control  of  the  Michigan  Agri- 
cultural College: 

The  President  of  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical 
Engineers  has  appointed  us  as  honorary  vice-presidents  to 
represent  the  society  on  the  occasion  of  this  the  fiftieth  anniver- 
sary of  your  institution. 

On  behalf  of  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers 
we  have  the  distinguished  honor  to  present  to  the  president  and 
Board  of  Control  of  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College  the 
congratulations  of  the  society  on  this  occasion  which  marks  an 
era  of  prosperity  in  the  great  industries  fostered  by  your  institu- 
tion under  the  wise  and  beneficent  provisions  of  federal  and 
state  legislation. 

The  society  recognizes  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College  as 
the  pioneer  in  a  field  of  education  which  constitutes  the  very 
bulwark  of  our  nation's  prosperity,  and  cherishes  the  hope  that 
the  same  wise  administration  of  the  affairs  of  your  institution 
may  continue  in  the  future  to  be  an  example  to  be  emulated  by 
your  sister  institutions  as  it  has  been  in  the  past. 

The  society  extends  its  greetings  and  acknowledgments  to 
those  who,  as  directors,  teachers,  investigators,  and  alumni, 
have  brought  to  your  institution  the  great  distinction  which  it 
enjoys,  and  which  is  now  being  commemorated. 

The  society  is  glad  of  the  opportunity  to  join  with  you  on  so 

great  a  festal  occasion  and  to  take  part  with  others  in  extending 

felicitations. 

American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers 

Frank  E.  Kirby 

Mortimer  E.  Cooley 

Alex.  Dow 

Honorary  vice-presidents 
29  West  Thirty-ninth  Street,  New  York 
May  31,  1907 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  267 


CLARK  UNIVERSITY 

PRESENTED  BY  DELEGATE  PRESIDENT  E.   G.  LANCASTER 

To  the  President  and  Board  of  Control  0}  Michigan  Agricultural 
College: 

Dear  Sirs  :  President  E.  G.  Lancaster  of  Olivet  College,  who 
is  an  alumnus  of  Clark  University,  has  been  appointed  to  repre- 
sent Clark  University  at  the  celebration  of  the  Fiftieth  Anni- 
versary of  Michigan  Agricultural  College,  this  note  constituting 
his  credentials. 

He  bears  you  the  most  cordial  greetings  and  hearty  felicitation 
of  Clark  University  on  this  auspicious  occasion. 

With  all  good  wishes  for  an  ever-brightening  future,  I  am, 

G.  Stanley  Hall 
President  of  Clark  University 
Worcester,  Massachusetts 
May  23,  1907 


268        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


CLEMSON  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE  OF  SOUTH  CAROLINA 

FROM  PRESIDENT  P,   H.   NELL 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  have  our  institution  represented  on 
this  most  auspicious  occasion,  and  as  president  of  Clemson 
College  I  desire  to  extend  to  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College 
my  hearty  congratulations  for  the  splendid  history  of  the  past 
made  by  the  Michigan  College  and  to  express  the  hope  that 
there  is  a  bright  future  before  the  institution. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  269 


COLORADO  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE  AND  EXPERIMENT 

STATION 

PRESENTED  BY  DELEGATE  DIRECTOR  L.  G.  CARPENTER 

The  Colorado  Agricultural  College  and  Experiment  Station, 
peculiarly  a  child  of  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College,  extends 
its  cordial  greetings  at  the  Semi-Centennial  Anniversary. 


270        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


CONNECTICUT  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

PRESENTED  BY  DELEGATE  L.  A.  CLINTON 

To  Michigan  Agricultural  College: 

Recognizing  Michigan  Agricultural  College  as  the  pioneer 
in  agricultural  education,  at  a  time  when  such  education  was 
not  popular  or  even  understood;  recognizing  it  as  the  institution 
after  which  many  other  similar  colleges  have  been  modeled, 
and  recognizing  that  it  has  served  as  a  training-school  for  presi- 
dents and  professors  of  such  other  colleges:  We,  the  faculty 
of  The  Connecticut  Agricultural  College,  extend  most  hearty 
greetings  to  this  justly  honored  institution  upon  the  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  its  founding — full  of  confidence  that  in  the  years 
to  come  it  will  continue  to  be  as  successful  as  in  the  past,  and 
will  always  stand  for  what  is  best  and  truest  in  agricultural 
education. 

L.  A.  Clinton 

A.  G.  GULLEY 

E.  O.  Smith 
Faculty  Committee  on  Congratula- 
tions   to    Michigan    Agricultural 
College 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  271 


CORNELL  UNIVERSITY 

PRESENTED  BY  DELEGATE  DEAN  L.  H.  BAILEY 

To  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture  of  the  State  of  Michigan,  and 
the  President  and  Faculty  of  the  Michigan  Agricultural 
College,  Greeting: 

The  Board  of  Trustees,  the  president,  and  the  faculty  of 
Cornell  University  tender  their  cordial  congratulations  on  the 
completion  of  the  first  half -century  of  the  existence  of  the  Michi- 
gan Agricultural  College.  The  oldest  existing  college  of  agri- 
culture in  the  United  States,  it  has  been  a  leader  in  the  teaching 
of  agriculture  and  in  experiment  and  investigation;  and  its 
successes  in  all  these  fields  have  been  noteworthy.  Its  varied 
experiments  in  pedagogy  as  applied  to  agriculture  have  been 
of  inestimable  value  to  all  later  effort.  And  the  faculty  of  the 
College  have  included  teachers  whose  influence  in  the  training 
of  men  for  younger  institutions  has  been  potent  and  widespread. 

Cornell  University  trusts  that  the  future  of  the  Michigan 
Agricultural  College  will  reaUze  the  hopes  and  aspirations  of  its 
founders,  and  that  its  measure  of  success  will  continue  to  increase. 

J.  G.  ScHURMAN,  President 

[seal]  Wm.  A.  HAMMOND' 

Secretary  of  the  Faculty 
Ithaca,  N.  Y. 
May,  1907 


272        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


THE  GEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY  OF  AMERICA 

The  Geological  Society  of  America  presents  heartiest  good 
wishes  and  felicitations. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  273 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON  UNIVERSITY 

Dr.  Richard  Harlan  of  the  George  Washington  University 
brings  from  that  university  to  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College, 
upon  the  completion  of  a  half-century  of  notable  service  to  the 
nation,  hearty  feUcitations  and  earnest  wishes  for  great  pros- 
perity in  the  future. 


274        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 

PRESENTED  BY  DELEGATE  DR.  THEODORE  LYMAN 

Harvard  University  to  the  Michigan  State  Agricultural  College, 
Greeting: 

The  president  and  fellows  of  Harvard  College  send  their 
hearty  congratulations  to  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture  of 
Michigan  and  to  the  president  and  faculty  of  the  State  Agri- 
cultural College  on  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  its  foundation. 
Anticipating  by  several  years  the  estabUshment  of  the  land- 
grant  colleges,  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College  performed  the 
high  service  of  a  pioneer  in  both  the  literal  and  the  figurative 
sense  of  the  word.  The  steady  development  of  the  institution, 
when  once  the  early  days  of  hardship  and  experiment  were  over, 
and  the  attainment  of  its  present  prosperity  and  usefulness 
offer  a  striking  example  of  foresight  and  inteUigent  pubHc  spirit. 
May  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College  continue  to  prosper 
through  continued  usefulness  not  only  to  the  state  but  also  to 
the  agricultural  and  mechanical  sciences  throughout  the  world. 

The  President  and  Fellows  of  Harvard  CoUege,  by 

[seal]  Jerome  D.  Greene,  Secretary 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  275 


HILLSDALE  COLLEGE 

PRESENTED  BY  DELEGATE  PRESIDENT  JOSEPH  W.  MAUCK 

Hillsdale  College,  the  oldest  daughter  in  education  of  the 
church  in  Michigan,  greets  and  congratulates  the  Michigan 
Agricultural  College,  one  of  the  oldest  and  fairest  daughters 
of  the  state,  and  offers  a  joyous  and  prayerful  Godspeed,  with 
the  sentiment:  A  complete  separation  of  the  organic  church 
from  the  state,  but  a  more  intimate  union  of  vital  religion  with 
the  work  of  both  state  and  church. 


276        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


INDIANA  UNIVERSITY 

PRESENTED  BY  DELEGATE  PRESIDENT  BRYAN 

Lux  et  Veritas,  "light  and  truth."  Let  them  be  guides  to 
thee  as  to  me.  The  greetings  of  an  octogenarian  of  the  Old 
Northwest  to  a  semicentenarian. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  277 


KANSAS  STATE   AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

PRESENTED  BY  DELEGATE   PRESIDENT  E.  R.  NICHOLS 

The  Kansas  State  Agricultural  College  sends  greetings  and 
congratulations  to  Michigan  Agricultural  College  on  her  golden 
anniversary.  We  wish  to  acknowledge  our  appreciation  and 
indebtedness  to  our  mother  institution,  for  so  we  regard  her, 
who  has  been  our  model  and  who  has  furnished  us  so  many 
illustrious  men. 


rJi- 


f  U  N  I  V  E  p 


278        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


KENTUCKY  EXPERIMENT  STATION 

PRESENTED  BY  DELEGATE  DR.   M.  A.   SCOVELL 

The  Kentucky  Experiment  Station  sends  greetings  and 
felicitations  to  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College  on  its  fiftieth 
anniversary  and  congratulates  it  on  its  fifty  years  of  fruitful 
work  and  wishes  it  even  a  brighter  and  a  still  more  fruitful 
future,  and  ever-increasing  success. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  279 


LAKE   ERIE  COLLEGE 

PRESENTED   BY  DELEGATE   MISS   INGA  M.   K.    ALLISON 

The  trustees,  the  president,  the  faculty,  and  the  students  of 
Lake  Erie  College  extend  to  the  Agricultural  College  of  Michigan 
their  heartiest  congratulations  upon  this  the  Semi-Centennial 
Celebration,  and  upon  fifty  years  of  honorable  and  useful  service 
to  the  state  and  nation. 


28o        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


MASSACHUSETTS   AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

PRESENTED   BY  DELEGATE   PRESIDENT   KENYON  L.   BUTTERPIELD 

Massachusetts,  through  its  agricultural  college,  sends  con- 
gratulations to  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College  on  the  occasion 
of  its  fiftieth  anniversary,  and  recalls  with  pride  the  fact  that  the 
Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  and  its  famous  university, 
Harvard,  were  respectively  the  native  state  and  the  Alma  Mater 
of  that  great  and  far-seeing  man,  Joseph  R.  Wilhams,  the  first 
president  of  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  281 


MASSACHUSETTS  INSTITUTE  OF  TECHNOLOGY 

The  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  through  its 
delegate,  Professor  George  W.  Patterson,  congratulates  the 
Michigan  Agricultural  College  on  this  most  happy  anniversary. 


282        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


MIAMI  UNIVERSITY 

PRESENTED  BY  DELEGATE  BENJAMIN  MARSHALL  DAVIS 

Greetings   and   congratulations   to   Michigan   Agricultural 
College  from  Miami  University. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  283 


MICHIGAN  ACADEMY  OF  SCIENCE 

Professor  James  B.  Pollock  presents  the  congratulations  of 
the  Michigan  Academy  of  Science. 


284        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


NORTHWESTERN  UNIVERSITY 

PRESE^^^ED   by  delegate  president  a.   W.   HARRIS 

Northwestern  University  to  the  President  and  Board  of  Control 
of  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College,  Greetings  and  Con- 
gratulations: 

Your  institution  was  a  pioneer  and  has  continued  to  be  a 
leader  in  a  branch  of  educational  work,  the  far-reaching  value 
of  which  each  year  is  recognized  more  fully.  The  American 
people  are  an  agricultural  people  and  they  cherish  ideals  of 
popular  education.  It  is  therefore  doubly  needful  in  this  country 
that  agriculture  and  education  should  go  hand  in  hand.  That 
institution,  then,  which,  like  your  own,  is  training  men  and 
women  to  develop  the  resources  of  nature  at  first  hand  is  doing 
a  service  of  inestimable  benefit  both  to  the  nation  as  a  whole  and 
to  the  cause  of  education. 

Northwestern  University  upon  the  occasion  of  your  Fiftieth 
Anniversary  expresses  its  high  appreciation  of  what  your  college 
has  already  accomplished  and  wishes  for  it  a  career  of  even 
greater  prosperity  and  usefulness. 

Abram  Winegardner  Harris 

President  of  the  University 

[Seal]  Frank  P.  Crandon» 

Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
EvANSTON,  III. 
May  14,  1907 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  28$ 


OBERLIN  COLLEGE 

PRESENTED  BY  DELEGATE  DEAN  CHARLES  E.  ST.  JOHN 

Oberlin  College  begs  to  extend  her  congratulations  to  Michi- 
gan Agricultural  College  on  the  completion  of  fifty  years  of 
valuable  service. 


286        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


OLIVET  COLLEGE 

PRESENTED  BY  DELEGATE  PRESIDENT  E.   G.  LANCASTER 

To  the  President  and  Board  of  Trustees  of  Michigan  Agricultural 
College: 
Olivet  College  sincerely  congratulates  the  Michigan  Agri- 
cultural College  on  her  magnificent  work  for  the  state  of  Michi- 
gan during  the  past  half -century,  and  extends  to  her  most 
cordial  greetings  and  best  wishes  on  this  the  happy  occasion  of 
her  fiftieth  anniversary. 

E.  G.  Lancaster,  President 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  287 


POMONA  COLLEGE 

Pomona  College,  Claremont,  California,  through  her  delegate, 
Dr.  Albert  J.  Cook,  extends  hearty  greetings  to  the  Michigan 
Agricultural  College,  and  congratulates  her  on  the  long  and 
admirable  service  which  she  has  rendered  to  education,  and 
especially  to  agriculture.  Her  ideals  have  always  been  high, 
and  she  has  always  rung  true  to  the  cause  which  the  Morrill  bill 
sought  to  promote.  We  send  cordial  fehcitations,  because  of 
the  able  men  which  she  has  sent  forth — men  who  have  done 
royal  service  to  agriculture  and  to  agricultural  education.  We 
extend  our  most  hearty  good  wishes,  that  the  future  may  be 
still  more  bright  and  prosperous. 

May  31,  1907 


288        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAI.  COLLEGE 


PURDUE  UNIVERSITY 

PRESENTED  BY  DELEGATE  PRESmENT  WINTHROP  ELLSWORTH  STONE 

Purdue  University  extends  to  its  sister  and  neighbor,  the 
Michigan  Agricultural  College,  its  hearty  congratulations  upon 
the  completion  of  a  half-century  of  notable  achievement  in 
education,  and  expresses  the  sincere  hope  that  her  influence 
and  usefulness  may  never  be  diminished. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  289 


RHODE  ISLAND  COLLEGE  OF  AGRICULTURE  AND 
MECHANIC  ARTS 

PRESENTED  BY  DELEGATE  PRESIDENT  HOWARD  EDWARDS 

To  the  Trustees,  Faculty,  and  Students  0}  Michigan  Agricul- 
tural College: 

There  are  certain  tiraes  in  the  life  of  an  institution,  as  in  that 
of  a  person,  when  the  well-directed  labors  of  years  receive  their 
meed  of  congratulation.  And  so  the  faculty  of  the  Rhode  Island 
College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts  is  glad  to  send  its 
greetings  to  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College  on  the  occasion 
of  its  Semi-Centennial  Anniversary. 

It  should  indeed  be  a  year  of  jubilee  for  the  College,  which 
has  been  a  pioneer  in  introducing  and  developing  a  new  form 
of  education  to  meet  the  varied  needs  of  a  growing  and  diversi- 
fied people.  Without  precedents  to  guide  it,  uncertain  of  its 
relation  to  other  state  institutions,  amid  many  perplexities  and 
discouragements,  it  succeeded  in  solving  the  problems  of  how 
to  co-ordinate  the  training  of  brain  and  hand  and  dignify  in- 
dustrial education.  All  similar  institutions  are  thus  its  debtors, 
and  may  well  unite  in  paying  tribute  to  fifty  years  of  faithful 
service.  That  the  past  work  is  but  an  earnest  of  even  greater 
future  success  is  the  sincere  wish  of  a  sister  college. 

Very  truly, 

[Seal]  Harriet  L.  Merrow 

Secretary  of  the  Faculty 
May  24,  1907 


290        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


SOCIETY   FOR   THE   PROMOTION   OF   AGRICULTURAL 

SCIENCE 

PRESENTED   BY   DELEGATE  PRESIDENT  HENRY  PRENTISS   ARMSBY 

The  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Agricultural  Science  extends 
to  the  president,  trustees,  and  faculty  of  the  Michigan  Agri- 
cultural College  its  congratulations  upon  the  completion  of 
fifty  years  of  notable  service  to  the  cause  of  agricultural  educa- 
tion. 

It  recalls  with  pride  the  fact  that  one  of  its  founders,  and  its 
first  president,  Dr.  W.  J.  Beal,  was  and  still  is  a  professor  in  the 
Michigan  Agricultural  College,  and  that  many  of  its  most 
distinguished  members  have  been  graduates  of  that  institution 
and  members  of  its  faculty. 

That  the  achievements  of  the  half -century  just  closed  may  be 
but  the  prelude  to  more  magnificent  deeds  in  the  half-century  to 
come  is  the  confident  hope  of  this  society. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  291 


STATE  COLLEGE  OF   WASHINGTON 

The  New  Northwest  sends  greetings  to  the  child  of  the  Old 
Northwest.  The  State  College  of  Washington  presents  its 
congratulations  and  felicitations  to  the  Michigan  Agricultural 
CoUege  on  the  occasion  of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  its  estab- 
lishment. The  distinguished  service  to  the  commonwealth  and 
to  humanity  rendered  by  the  College  during  the  past  fifty  years 
will  forever  continue  to  be  an  inspiration  to  men  and  to  states. 

May  the  oak  tree,  emblematic  of  long  life,  strength,  beauty, 
and  usefulness  henceforth  be  inscribed  on  your  coat  of  arms. 

For  the  Board  of  Regents  and  Faculty. 

E.  A.  Bryan,  President 


292   MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


TEXAS  AGRICULTURAL  AND  MECHANICAL  COLLEGE 

Professor  J.  W.  Carson  bears  to  the  Michigan  Agricultural 
College  the  congratulations  of  the  Texas  Agricultural  and 
Mechanical  College,  with  the  best  wishes  of  its  board  of  directors 
and  faculty. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  293 


TUSKEGEE  INSTITUTE 

Tuskegee  Normal,  Agricultural,  and  Industrial  Institute, 
by  its  delegate,  Professor  Charles  Walters  Green,  in  charge  of 
practical  agriculture,  felicitates  Michigan  Agricultural  College 
on  the  completion  of  its  half-century  of  work  for  the  world. 


294        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


UNIVERSITY   OF  CALIFORNIA 

Dr.  Benjamin  Ide  Wheeler  of  the  University  of  California 
presents  a  congratulatory  letter  from  Professor  E.  W.  Hilgard 
representing  the  College  of  Agriculture  at  Berkeley.^ 

I  See  page  224. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  295 


UNIVERSITY  OF   GEORGIA 

PRESENTED  BY  DELEGATE   HENRY  CLAY  WHITE 

The  first  established  State  University  in  America  offers  its 
fraternal  and  cordial  feHcitations  to  the  Michigan  Agricultural 
College,  the  first  established  agricultural  college  in  America, 
upon  the  completion  of  a  half-century  of  conspicuous  and 
eminent  science  in  kindred  endeavors  for  the  moulding  of  worthy 
American  citizens  and  the  maintenance  of  worthy  American 
ideals. 


296        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  HALLE 

PRESENTED    BY    DELEGATE    DR.    K.    STERNBRUCK,    WHO    SPOKE,    FIRST    EN 
ENGLISH  AND  THEN  IN  GERMAN,  AS  FOLLOWS: 

His  Magnificence  and  the  Senate  of  the  University  of  Halle, 
in  which  the  agricultural  science  holds  an  eminent  place  and  to 
which  Julius  Kuhn  has  devoted  all  his  life  and  blessed  work, 
has  charged  me  to  give  Michigan  Agricultural  College  his  con- 
gratulations and  those  of  the  university  on  this  festival  day. 

Michigan  Agricultural  College  appHed  itself  to  experimental 
science  at  a  time  when  on  this  ground  even  in  Europe  the  very 
first  timid  attempts  were  made  in  a  rather  limited  way,  and  by 
this  means  it  has  become  as  important  and  typical  for  the 
development  of  agricultural  teaching  as  Halle  for  Germany. 

Its  first  president,  Hon.  Jos.  R.  Williams,  maintained  in  his 
opening  address  that  all  disciplines  being  connected  with 
agricultural  science  in  any  way  or  having  any  importance  to  it, 
ought  to  be  cultivated. 

Michigan  Agricultural  College  can  boast  of  having  had  a 
great  number  of  learned  men  well  known  in  the  world  of  science. 
In  all  the  branches  of  agricultural  and  natural  science,  especially 
in  attacking  stock  murrains,  noxiousnesses  in  the  vegetable 
kingdom,  as  to  dairy,  entomology,  bacteriology,  cultivation  of 
corn,  and  horticulture  the  teachers  of  Michigan  Agricultural 
College  have  been  particularly  successful  from  the  beginning  up 
to  our  date.  By  establishing  substations,  the  College  has  done 
an  elaborate  work  in  transferring  scientific  results  into  practice, 
and  has  highly  contributed  to  the  splendid  agriculture  of  Michi- 
gan State. 

The  University  of  Halle,  the  representative  of  which  I  have 
the  honor  to  be,  wishes  that  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College 
may  continue  in  this  brilliant  manner  developing  the  agricul- 
tural science. 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  present  to  you  this  tabula  congratu- 
latonia^  and  my  best  wishes. 

I  See  p.  298. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  297 

[After  handing  the  tabula  congratulatonia  to  the  President,  Dr.  Stein- 
briick  continued:] 

Und  nun  lassen  Sie  mich  in  deutscher  Sprache  meine  auf- 
richtigsten  Wiinsche  hinzufiigen,  dass  die  innigen  Beziehungen, 
welche  zwischen  beiden  grossen  so  eng  verwandten  und  be- 
freundeten  Nationen,  Deutschland  und  den  Vereinigten  Staaten, 
sowohl  in  wirtschaftlicher  als  auch  besonders  in  wissenschaft- 
licher  Hinsicht,  in  befreundender  Wechselwirkung  bestehen, 
immer  inniger  werden  mochten.  Die  Wissenschaft  kennt 
keine  nationalen  Grenzen.  Dieselben  Aufgaben  beschaftigen 
hunderte  der  besten  Kopfe  und  Denker  diesseits  und  jenseits 
des  Oceans.  Ihre  Losung  kommt  gleichmassig  alien  Kultur- 
volkern  zu  gute.  In  hohem  Mass  ist  das  bei  der  Landwirtschaft- 
wissenschaft  der  Fall.  Die  Landwirtschaft  ist  ja  von  besonderer 
Bedeutung  fiir  die  beiden  Lander,  da  sie  in  beiden  einen  hervor- 
ragenden  Platz  in  der  gesammten  Volkswirtschaft  einnimmt. 
Auch  heute  noch  hat  das  Wort  Friedrich  des  Grossen  Geltung : 

Die  Landwirtschaft  ist  die  erste  aller  Kiinste.  Ohne  sie  gabe  es 
keine  Kaufleute,  Dichter  und  Philosophen.  Nur  das  ist  wahrer  Reichtum, 
was  die  Erde  hervorbringt.' 

I  And  now  let  me  add  in  the  German  language  my  most  sincere  wishes 
that  there  may  be  ever-increasing  stability  in  those  intimate  and  friendly  rela- 
tions which  bind  together  with  reciprocal  benefit  to  science  and  agriculture,  the 
two  great  nations  so  closely  allied  by  social  inheritance,  Germany  and  the 
United  States.  Science  knows  no  national  boundaries.  The  same  problems 
employ  the  best  minds  on  both  sides  of  the  ocean.  The  solution  of  these  prob- 
lems is  of  equal  benefit  to  all  civilized  peoples.  To  a  very  high  degree  is  this 
true  of  agriculture,  a  science  of  especial  importance  to  our  two  covmtries,  since 
it  occupies  a  prominent  place  in  our  respective  systems  of  political  economy. 
Today  the  words  of  Frederick  the  Great  have  as  much  truth  as  when  he  spoke 
them: 

"The  tilling  of  the  soil  is  the  foremost  in  all  arts.  Without  it  there  would 
be  no  merchants,  poets,  and  philosophers.  That  alone  which  the  earth  brings 
forth  is  true  wealth. " 


298        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

TABULA  CONGRATULATONIA 

QVOD  BONVM  FELIX  FAVSTVMQVE  SIT 

CELEBERRIMO  COLLEGIO  AGRICVLTVRAE  STVDIIS 

DESIINATO  CIVITATIS  MICHIGAN  TRANSMARINAE 

QVOTQVOT  IN  CIVITATIBVS  FOEDERATIS  AMERICAE  SEPTENTRIONALIS  EX- 

STANT  HVIVS  GENERIS  COLLEGIORVM  OMNIVM  ANTIQVISSIMO 

OMNIVMQVE  EXEMPLO 

CVI  COLLEGIO  PER  DECEM  LVSTRORVM  SERIEM  QVI  PRAEFVERVNT  VIRI 

APVD  OMNES  CVLTIORES  NATIONES  CLARO 
NOMINE  NOTABILES  FIDELITER  ET  STRENVE  ID  TENVERVNT  QVOD  EORVM 

PRIMVS  VIR  HONORATISSIMVS  JOSEPHVS 
R.  WILLIAMS  IN  AVSPICANDIS  COLLEGII  INITIIS  PROCLAMAVERAT  OMNES 

DISCIPLINAS  SCIENTIASQVE  QVAE  AD 

STVDIA  REI  AGRARIAE  PROMOVENDA  ALIQUO  MODO  FACERENT  HAC  QVASI 

DOMESTICA  SEDE  CONDENDAS  SOLLERTIQVE 

INDVSTRIA  VELVTI  IN  VNVM  CORPVS  CONSOCIANDAS  ESSE 

QVO  IN  COLLEGIO  ET  A  STVDIORVM    PRAESIDIBVS    ET  ABIIS    QVI  EORVM 

INSTITVTIONE  FRVEBANTVR  QVID  AD 

AVGENDOS    AGRORVM    PROVENTVS    DEFENDENDAQVE    PERICVLA 

AGRICOLAE  LABOREM  INFESTANTIA  COMMODE 

ADHIBERI  POSSET  MEDITANDO  EXPERIVNDOQVE  QVAERI  NVLLO  TEMPORE 

DESITVM  EST  MVLTAQVE  DE  OPPRIMENDIS 
PECVDVM    PESTILENTIIS    DE    ARCENDIS    EXTINGVENDISQVE    ANIMALIBVS 

MINVTIS  PLANTARVM  EVERSORIBVS  DE  RE 
LACTARIA  ET  FRVMENTARIA  PROSPERIVS  EXERCENDIS  INNVMERISQVE  ALUS 

QVAESTIONIBVS  FELICISSIME  ATQVE 
SALVBERRIME   EXPLORATA   SVNT    QVORVM    COGNITIO    STATIONIBVS   PER 

TOTAM  REGIONEM  APTISSIME  DISPOSITIS  LATE 
PROPAGATA   EFFECIT   VT   QVICQVID   IN   LABORATORIO   REPERTVM   ERAT 

CELERRIME  IPSI  AGRICOLAE  ET  PECVARIO 
PRODESSET  MAGNVMQVE  INDE  INCREMENTVM  CAPERET  TOTIUS  CIVITATIS 

RES  RVSTICA 

SCHOLAE  VT  SCIENTIAEITA  IPSI  REI  AGRARIAE  VSVI  CVM  OMNI  LAVDE 

VBERRIMOQVE  FRVCTV  INSERVIENTl 

SACRA  SEMISAECVLARIA 

DIE  XIII  MENSIS  MAII  ANNI  MDCCCCVII 

SOLLEMNITER  PER  AGENDA 

EX  ANIMI  SENTENTIA  GRATVLANTVR 

PRO  EIVS  SALVTE  ET  FELICITATE  PIA  VOTA  NVNCVPANT 

FIDEM  VOLVNTATEMQVE  SVAM  TESTANTVR 

VNIVERSITATIS  FRIDERICIANAE  HALENSIS    CVM  VITEBERGENSI 

CONSOCIATAE  RECTOR  ET  SENATVS 

CAROLUS  ROBERT- 

(SIGILLVM) 

I  For  translation  see  next  page. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  299 

TRANSLATION  OF  TABULA  CONGRATULATONIA 

Prosperity,  happiness,  and  good  auspices  to  the  most  celebrated  agri- 
cultural college  of  the  trans-oceanic  state  of  Michigan,  in  the  United  States  of 
North  America,  the  oldest  among  the  institutions  of  its  kind  and  serving  as  a 
model  to  all  of  them. 

In  this  college  men,  whose  glorious  names  are  known  among  all  civilized 
nations,  have  for  ten  series  of  semidecades  most  faithfully  and  strenuously 
sustained  the  idea  expressed  by  the  greatest  (first)  among  them,  a  man  of  highest 
distinctions,  Joseph  R.  Williams,  at  the  inauguration  of  the  institution:  namely, 
that  all  systems  of  knowledge  and  all  sciences,  to  any  degree  participating  in  the 
promotion  of  the  science  of  agriculture,  in  this  very  way  lead  to  the  preservation 
of  the  home  and  to  the  unity  of  all  skilled  industries  into  a  single  body. 

The  teachers  and  students  of  this  institution  at  no  time  ceased  to  investi- 
gate, by  way  of  reasoning  and  experimentation,  problems  connected  with  the 
increased  production  of  the  fields  and  with  the  combating  of  the  dangers  mena- 
cing the  work  of  the  tiller  of  the  soil.  And  many  problems  dealing  with  the  defy- 
ing of  pests  upon  cattle,  with  the  checking  and  the  extermination  of  minute 
animal  forms  obnoxious  to  plants,  with  the  management  of  the  dairy  and  the 
fertility  of  the  soil,  and  numberless  others  have  been  solved  in  a  most  successful 
and  glorious  way. 

The  results  of  these  investigations  are  broadly  disseminated  by  the  experi- 
ment stations,  which  are  in  a  most  able  manner  distributed  all  over  the  country, 
so  that  the  discoveries  made  in  the  laboratories  soon  become  the  possession  of 
the  tillers  of  the  soil  and  the  breeders  of  cattle;  and  thus  the  agricultural  interests 
of  the  entire  country  receive  a  powerful  impetus. 

To  the  school  which  in  such  a  glorious  way  and  so  fruitfully  serves  the  in- 
terests of  science  and  practical  agriculture  we  send  our  heartiest  congratulation 
upon  this  thirteenth  day  of  May  of  the  year  MDCCCCVII  (1907)  destined 
for  the  celebration  of  the  sacred  semi-centennial  festivals;  we  proudly  pray 
(offer  vows)  for  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  the  institution  and  testify  our 
friendship  and  our  best  wishes. 

The  Rector  and  Senate 

of  the  Friedrich  Halle-Wittenberg  University 

Carolus  Robert 


300        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


UNIVERSITY  OF  MAINE 

PRESENTED   BY   DELEGATE   PRESIDENT  GEO.   E.   FELLOWS 

The  trustees,  president,  and  faculty  of  the  University  of 
Maine  present  heartiest  congratulations  to  Michigan  Agricul- 
tural College  upon  fifty  years  of  magnificent  work. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  301 


UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN 

PRESENTED   BY  DELEGATE  PROFESSOR  JACOB  REIGHARD 

The  University  of  Michigan  begs  to  extend  her  congratulations 
to  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College  on  the  completion  of 
fifty  years  of  valuable  service,  and  hopes  that  the  two  institutions 
may  ever  continue  to  co-operate  in  ministering  to  the  prosperity 
of  the  state  which  has  so  generously  nourished  them  both. 

James  B.  Angell,  President 

[seal] 

Ann  Arbor 
May  25,  1907 


302        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 

PRESENTED  BY  DELEGATE  DEAN  CHARLES  EDWIN  BESSEY 

The  regents,  chancellor,  faculty,  and  students  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Nebraska  send  greetings  from  the  Great  Plains,  and 
congratulate  the  people  of  Michigan  upon  the  great  prosperity 
of  their  State  Agricultural  College  on  this  its  fiftieth  anniversary. 

May  31,  1907 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  303 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ROCHESTER 

The  University  of  Rochester,  through  its  delegate,  Pro- 
fessor Francis  W.  Kelsey,  presents  fehcitations,  most  cordial 
congratulations,  and  heartiest  good  wishes. 


304        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


UNIVERSITY  OF   VERMONT 

PRESENTED    BY    DELEGATE    PRESIDENT    MATTHEW    HENRY    BUCKHAM 

The  University  of  Vermont  extends  hearty  congratulations 
to  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College  on  the  occasion  of  the 
celebration  of  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  its  founding,  and 
joins  with  its  alumni  and  friends  in  wishing  for  it  a  future  of 
great  prosperity  and  growth. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  S^S 


UNIVERSITY  OF   WISCONSIN 

PRESENTED  BY  DELEGATE  DEAN  W.  A.  HENRY 

To  the  President,  the  Governing  Board,  and  the  Faculty  of  the 
Michigan  State  Agricultural  College: 
The  University  of  Wisconsin  extends  congratulations  to  its 
sister  institution  on  the  completion  of  a  half -century  of  service  to 
the  state,  and  to  the  cause  of  agricultural  education.  Not  only 
in  time  of  estabhshment,  but  in  molding  the  agricultural 
thought  of  the  nation,  the  Michigan  State  Agricultural  College 
has  been  the  pioneer.  May  the  high  ideals  which  have  domi- 
nated the  College  in  the  past  lead  on  to  still  greater  achievement 

in  the  future. 

Charles  R.  Van  Hise,  President 

[seal] 
May  28,  1907 


■|,-)      tlic  (imnnmtnij".Bitnrb,  anh  tltcFttCiilt^ 

iirl!ijjmiSyc^9rirultural((iJl^ 

'^^■i'    2xlcn5&  conigratnlalions  lo  ib  staler  "institaiion 
'/v '  on  l^e  coi^rjpfeUmi^/a_^a^c<nlura  o/^5m>i«  b 

)  ucalioix-.  T}*?!  onl'ii  in  timii  of  Ct-latifi^l^mcnh 
k»l  in  moull*>inii  Ibc  ac|ricuHural  tbc>iui[ilc>|  llx'  i">J- 
lion,  Hk  Hitcliianu  ^latci^mnruUuralCnllrgi*  l)as  bcvi) 
tpc  pii^ncci-.  (Jlan  Ibtt  H'llb  i<^»;aU  U'-nicK  b^tv  ioiui- 
nute^^H7e  CI i?ffeJi2.^n Jpc  pasi^f^^c*  onto  5Hlf  ortiuler 
cu:bi»!^uc^m<int  in  tpe  future^ 


PHOTOGRAPHIC    FACSIMILE   (REDLXED)  OF  THE  GREETINGS 
FROM  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  WISCONSIN 


CONGRATULATORY  MESSAGES 

RECEIVED   BY  THE  COMMITTEE 

FROM  OTHER  INSTITUTIONS  AND  LEARNED 
SOCIETIES 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  309 


ABERDEEN  UNIVERSITY 

Dear  Sir  :  The  Senatus  Academicus  of  this  university  desires 
to  return  its  cordial  thanks  to  the  President  and  Board  of  Control 
of  Michigan  Agricultural  College  for  the  courteous  invitation 
to  be  represented  at  the  celebration  of  the  fiftieth  anniversary 
of  the  institution.  Unfortunately  it  has  not  been  found  pos- 
sible to  name  a  delegate  to  be  present  on  the  occasion,  as  the  pro- 
fessors are  now  fully  occupied  with  the  Summer  Session  work. 

The  Senatus  sends  its  hearty  congratulations  to  your  presi- 
dent and  board  on  the  auspicious  anniversary  which  is  about 
to  be  celebrated,  together  with  its  cordial  good  wishes  for  the 
future  prosperity  of  the  college. 

I  am,  dear  sir,  yours  faithfully, 

Donaldson  Rose  Thom,  Secretary 

Aberdeen 
May  I,  1907 


3IO        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


ALABAMA  POLYTECHNIC  INSTITUTE 

My  dear  Sir:  I  regret  very  sincerely  to  say  that  our  Com- 
mencement coincides  exactly  with  your  Semi-Centennial  Cele- 
bration, and  that  it  will,  therefore,  be  impossible  to  have  a 
delegate  from  our  institution  in  attendance.  Your  institution, 
I  believe,  is  the  oldest  agricultural  college  on  the  land  grant  in 
the  United  States.  Our  institution  is  the  oldest  separate  land- 
grant  college  in  the  South,  having  been  established  in  1872. 
We  send  you  cordial  greetings  and  we  wish  you  long  continuation 
of  the  career  of  prosperity  and  usefulness  that  has  marked  your 
institution. 

I  am  very  sincerely  yours, 

Chas.  C.  Thach,  President 

Auburn,  Ala. 
May  IS,  1907 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  311 


AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  CIVIL  ENGINEERS 

To  the  President  and  Board  of  Control,  Michigan  Agricultural 
College: 

Gentlemen:  This  society  is  in  receipt  of  your  courteous 
request  that  it  be  represented  at  the  celebration  of  the  Fiftieth 
Anniversary  of  your  institution,  May  28  to  31,  1907. 

I  am  instructed  by  the  Board  of  Direction  of  this  society  to 
thank  you  for  this  invitation,  which  the  society  would  be  glad  to 
avail  itself  of,  it  if  were  not  so  difficult  to  find  a  representative 
who  would  be  able  to  be  present  on  the  occasion. 

I  am  directed  by  the  board  to  express  the  congratulations  of 
this  society  on  the  Semi-Centennial  Anniversary  of  your  institu- 
tion, and  a  cordial  hope  for  its  continued  success. 

Yours  respectfully, 

Chas.  Warren  Hunt,  Secretary 
New  York  City 
March  6,  1907 


312        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


CALCUTTA  UNIVERSITY 

To  the  President  and  Board  of  Control,  Michigan  Agricultural 
College: 

Sirs  :  I  am  directed  to  acknowledge  with  thanks  the  receipt 
of  your  invitation  requesting  that  the  Calcutta  University  may 
be  represented  at  the  celebration  of  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary 
of  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College  from  May  28  to  31,  1907, 
and  to  state  in  reply  that  the  Hon'ble  the  Vice-Chancellor 
and  Syndicate  regret  that  they  are  not  in  a  position  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  invitation. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  Sirs, 

Your  most  obedient  servant, 

G.  Thibaut,  Registrar 
Senate  House 
April  27. 1907 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  313 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 

To  the  President  0}  Michigan  Agricultural  College: 

Dear  Sir:  I  write  to  express  our  great  regret  that  it  seems 
impossible  for  us  to  make  arrangements  for  a  delegate  from 
Columbia  University  at  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  Michigan 
Agricultural  College.  The  date  falls  at  a  time  when  our  oflScers 
of  instruction  are  under  unusual  pressure  incident  to  the  closing 
of  the  academic  year.  We  wish  to  present  to  the  College 
through  you  our  heartiest  congratulations  upon  the  anniversary 
and  our  warm  wishes  for  the  continued  success  of  the  institution. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  Sir, 

Respectfully  yours, 

F.  P.  Keppel,  Secretary 
New  York  City 
March  6,  1907 


314        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


DELAWARE  COLLEGE 

To  the  President  and  Board  of  Control,  Michigan  Agricultural 
College: 

At  their  last  meeting  our  faculty  directed  me  to  express  their 
regret  at  their  probable  inabiHty  to  have  our  college  represented 
at  the  celebration  of  your  Fiftieth  Anniversary.  They  further 
directed  me  to  express  their  appreciation  of  your  kind  invitation 
and  their  thanks  for  the  same. 

Wishing  you  a  very  satisfactory  occasion,  I  am,  with  regards, 

Very  truly  yours, 

Frederic  H.  Robinson,  Secretary 

Newark,  Delaware 
March  29,  1907 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  315 


DEPAUW  UNIVERSITY 

My  dear  Sir  :  I  have  your  invitation  to  the  Commencement 
and  anniversary  exercises  to  be  held  at  Michigan  Agricultural 
College.  On  behalf  of  the  faculty  and  trustees  permit  me  to 
thank  you  for  the  kind  courtesy  of  the  invitation  and  to  express 
our  warmest  good  wishes  and  congratulations.  I  only  wish  it 
were  possible  for  some  of  us  to  be  there.  But  our  own  Com- 
mencement and  Seventieth  Anniversary  will  be  held  at  the  same 
time. 

And  I  remain,  yours  ever, 

Edwin  H.  Hughes,  President 
Greencastle,  Ind. 
May  20,  1907 


3i6        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


FRANKLIN  INSTITUTE 

To  the  Trustees  and  Faculty  of  The  Michigan  Agricultural 
College: 
Gentlemen:  I  have  pleasure  in  transmitting  herewith  an 
extract  from  the  minutes  of  the  stated  meeting  of  The  Franklin 
Institute  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  for  the  Promotion  of  the 
Mechanic  Arts,  held  Wednesday,  May  15,  1907. 

Respectfully  yours, 

Wm.  H.  Wahl,  Secretary 

[Extract  from  the  Franklin  Institute  Minutes. \ 
The  president  thereupon  presented  an  invitation  from  the  Michigan 
Agricultural  College,  asking  the  participation  of  the  Franklin  Institute  in 
the  commemorative  exercises  of  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  that  institution. 
The  secretary  was  directed  to  prepare  and  transmit  a  suitable  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  invitation  and  to  express  the  felicitations  and  best  wishes  of  the 
Franklin  Institute. 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
May  21,  1907 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  317 


HUNGARY  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE 

[cablegram] 
Michigan  Agricultural  College,  Lansing,  Michigan: 

Most  sincere  congratulations,  wishing  the  future  prosperity 
of  the  College. 

Darangi  I.  Royal 
Hungarian  Minister  of  Agriculture 

BtTDAPEST 


3i8        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY 

Dear  Sir:  I  regret  very  much  that  I  have  not  been  able  to 
find  anyone  who  can  serve  as  delegate  of  this  university  at  your 
coming  celebration.  The  time  is  most  unfortunate  for  us,  as 
we  shall  then  be  engaged  in  our  final  examinations,  and  the 
presence  of  every  member  of  the  staff  is  necessary.  I  intended 
to  see  whether  I  could  not  find  someone  elsewhere  who  could 
properly  represent  us,  but  for  one  reason  and  another  I  have 
not  been  successful  in  this,  and  it  is  now  too  late. 

Be  assured  of  the  hearty  good-will  of  the  Johns  Hopkins 
University  toward  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College,  and 
accept  our  hearty  congratulations  upon  the  completion  of  your 
first  half-century.  Under  other  conditions  we  should  unques- 
tionably have  taken  great  pleasure  in  sending  a  representative 
to  express  more  fully  and  more  satisfactorily  our  high  regard. 

I  am,  yours  very  respectfully, 

Ira  Remsen,  President 

Baltimore,  Md. 
May  13,  1907 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  319 


KAISERLICH  DEUTSCHES  KONSULAT 

To  the  President  of  Michigan  Agricultural  College: 

Dear  Sir:  I  am  directed  by  the  Imperial  Foreign  Office  to 
transmit  to  you  and  through  you  to  the  Board  of  Control  of 
Michigan  Agricultural  College  the  best  thanks  of  His  Excellency 
the  Royal  Prussian  Minister  of  Agriculture  at  Berlin  for  the 
kind  invitation  you  tendered  the  Department  of  Agriculture, 
and  his  regrets  that  the  plans  heretofore  laid  out  for  the  period 
in  question  did  not  permit  the  sending  of  a  special  representative 
of  His  Excellency  to  participate  in  the  celebration  of  the  Fiftieth 
Anniversary  of  your  institution. 

I  hear  with  interest  that  you  had  the  kindness  to  invite  Mr. 
Nicola  Kaumanns  attached  as  agricultural  attache  to  the  United 
States  to  the  consulate  at  Chicago.  Through  him  I  will  hear 
about  the  celebration  of  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  Michigan 
Agricultural  College. 

I  have  the  honor  to  remain,  dear  Sir, 

Yours  very  respectfully, 

W.  Wever 

Imperial  German  Consul-General 
Chicago 
May  22,  1907 


320       MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


KONIGLICHE  UNIVERSITAT 

An  den  Herrn  Prdsidenten  des  Michigan- Agricultural-College: 
Namens  imserer  Universitat  spreche  ich  den  verbindlichsten 
Dank  aus  fur  die  freundliche  Einladimg  zu  der  Jubelfeier  Ihrer 
Anstalt.  Zu  unserem  Bedauem  sind  wir  nicht  in  der  Lage, 
einen  Vertreter  zu  entsenden,  weil  die  Feier  in  iinser  Semester 
faUt. 

Hochachtungsvoll  und  ergebenst, 

Der  Rektor 

V.  Sybel' 

MARBtTRG 
den  9.  Marz  1907 

I  THE  ROYAL  UNIVERSITY 

To  the  President  of  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College: 

In  the  name  of  the  University,  I  most  respectfully  tender  thanks  for  the 
kind  invitation  to  the  jubilee  celebration  of  your  College.  To  our  great  regret, 
we  are  not  in  a  position  to  send  a  delegate,  since  the  celebration  comes  in  the  midst 
of  our  semester. 

Most  respectfully  yours 
The  Rector 

VON  Sybel 
Marburg 
March  9,  1907 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  32I 


LELAND  STANFORD  JUNIOR  UNIVERSITY 

Dear  Sir:  It  was  President  Jordan's  hope  that  some  one  of 
our  professors  going  East  might  be  able  to  combine  a  visit  to 
Lansing  with  his  other  engagements  and  serve  as  our  delegate 
to  the  Semi-Centennial  Celebration  of  your  College,  the  univer- 
sity having  no  provision  by  which  the  expenses  of  a  delegate 
could  be  paid.  Dr.  Jordan  has  himself  gone  to  Australia.  I 
regret  that  it  has  not  been  possible  for  us  to  name  a  delegate 
under  the  circumstances.  In  this  event  it  was  President 
Jordan's  wish  that  I  should  express  to  the  Agricultural  College 
of  Michigan  the  good-will  of  Stanford  University  and  her  hearty 
congratulations  on  the  completion  of  a  half-century  of  splendid 
work  in  the  cause  of  education. 

Very  truly  yours, 

G.  A.  Clark,  Secretary 
Stanfosd  University,  Cal. 
May  15,  1907 


322        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


K.   LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAT 

An  das  Michigan  Agrikultural  College: 

Sie  waren  so  freundlich  unsere  Universitat  zur  Feier  des 
50-jahrigen  Bestehens  Ihres  College  einzuladen.  Da  die  Feier 
mitten  in  das  Semester  fallt,  so  ist  es  uns  nicht  moglich  einen 
Vertreter  hinzu  abzuordnen.  Wir  imterlassen  aber  nicht,  auf 
schriftlichem  Wege  Ihnen  unsere  herzlichsten  Wiinsche  zum 
Ausdrucke  zu  bringen. 

Der  akademische  Senat' 

MtJNCHEN 

am  12.  Marz  1907 

IKING   LUD WIG-MAXIMILIAN' S  XJNIVERSITY 

To  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College: 

You  had  the  kindness  to  invite  our  university  to  participate  in  the  cele- 
bration of  the  50th  Anniversary  of  your  College.  As  the  celebration  occurs 
in  the  midst  of  our  semester,  we  find  it  impossible  for  us  to  send  a  representative. 
However,  we  do  not  fail  to  express  by  means  of  writing  our  heartiest  wishes  for 
the  welfare  of  your  institution. 

The  Academic  Senate 

MtmiCH  March  12,  1907 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  323 

McGILL  UNIVERSITY 

Dear  Sir  :  I  have  been  requested  by  the  University  of  Cam- 
bridge to  act  as  its  representative  at  the  Semi- Centennial  Cele- 
bration of  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College  and  had  fully 
intended  to  be  present.  My  work,  however,  owing  to  the 
destruction  of  our  buildings  by  fire,  has  been  much  increased,  so 
that  I  fear  I  shall  thus  be  unable  to  convey  personally  a  message 
from  the  university  which  I  have  the  honor  to  represent. 

As  the  letter  from  the  vice-chancellor  will  have  made  known 
to  you,  the  University  of  Cambridge  desires  to  present  its  con- 
gratulations and  earnest  wishes  for  the  continued  prosperity  of 
your  institution,  which  is  now  celebrating  the  conclusion  of  so 
long  a  period  of  usefulness. 

The  importance  of  the  scientific  study  of  agriculture  is 
being  constantly  more  widely  recognized.  The  University  of 
Cambridge  has  not  been  slow  to  take  up  this  matter,  and  a 
Department  of  Agriculture  has  been  in  existence  there  for  some 
years.  The  work  of  this  department  and  the  importance  of 
the  subject  have  been  referred  to  by  His  Majesty  King  Edward 
in  the  following  words,  which  I  may  be  allowed  to  quote : 

I  am  very  glad  to  know  of  the  educational  work  in  connection  with  the 
great  industry  of  agriculture  which  you  have  undertaken.  In  common 
with  most  branches  of  industry,  agriculture  has  in  modern  times  come  to 
depend  for  its  success  and  extension  upon  the  unremitting  application  to  it 
of  the  results  of  scientific  investigation.  No  greater  service  can  be  rendered 
to  this  ancient  industry  than  to  furnish  it  with  the  means  of  research  and 
instruction,  which  are  essential  in  order  that  labor  may  be  directed  in 
profitable  channels. 

With  my  personal  congratulations,  and  again  regretting  my 
inabiUty  to  be  present,  I  remain, 

Yours  very  truly, 

Henry  T.  Bovey 

Montreal 
May  20,  1907 


324        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


MARYLAND  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

My  dear  Sir  :  I  have  your  invitation  to  attend  the  Fiftieth 
Anniversary  of  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College,  to  be  held 
May  28  to  31,  1907,  at  Lansing,  Mich. 

I  regret  exceedingly  that  the  celebration,  taking  place  on  the 
dates  it  does,  precludes  my  giving  myself  the  pleasiure  of  attend- 
ing either  in  person  or  by  representative,  as  at  this  season  we  are 
in  the  midst  of  our  final  examinations,  and  this  year,  in  addition 
to  the  final  examination  work,  we  will  encamp  with  our  Cadet 
Battalion  at  Jamestown  about  or  near  this  time,  and  many  of  our 
staff  will  be  with  us  for  this  encampment. 

I  regret  exceedingly  these  conditions,  as  it  would  be  a  great 
gratification  to  me  to  meet  with  you,  and  rejoice  with  you  in  the 
successes  you  have  achieved  in  the  past  and  the  brilliant  promises 
for  your  institution  for  the  future. 

With  much  respect  and  esteem, 

Very  truly  yours, 

R.  W.  Silvester,  President 
College  Park,  Md. 
February  23,  1907 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  325 


MICHIGAN  PIONEER  AND   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Dear  Sir:  We  take  pleasure  in  offering  you  our  heartiest 
congratulations  on  the  interesting  program  outlined  for  your 
Semi- Centennial,  and  on  the  wisdom  shown  in  planning  for 
such  an  important  and  historical  occasion.  The  M.  A.  C.  has 
proven  a  kindergarten  for  the  colleges  of  the  United  States,  and 
if  her  pupils  come  home  with  the  titles  and  honor  the  Alma 
Mater  has  enabled  them  to  win,  it  should  make  you  all  very 
proud  and  happy. 

Sincerely  yours, 

Henry  R.  Pattengill,  Secretary 

Lansing 
May  14,  1907 


326        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


PRINCETON  UNIVERSITY 

My  dear  Sir  :  I  extremely  regret  to  say  that  May  is  a  month 
when  my  colleagues  and  I  are  all  necessarily  so  absorbed  in 
duties  connected  with  the  closing  of  the  academic  year  that  it 
wiU  not  be  possible  for  our  faculty  to  be  represented  at  your 
Semi- Centennial  Celebration.  I  am  sure  that  I  am  speaking 
the  feelings  of  my  colleagues  in  extending  Princeton's  warmest 
congratulations  to  Michigan  Agricultural  College,  as  well  as  her 
best  wishes  for  its  continued  prosperity  and  advance. 


Princeton,  N.  J. 
May  13,  1907 


Very  sincerely  yours, 

WooDRow  Wilson,  President 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  327 


RHODESIA  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE 

Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  receipt  of  your  invita- 
tion to  be  present  at  the  celebration  of  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary 
of  the  institution  of  your  College,  for  which  I  beg  you  to  accept 
my  best  thanks. 

It  would  have  indeed  been  a  great  pleasure  to  us  to  have  been 
represented  at  this  celebration,  but  I  regret  that  circumstances 
do  not  permit  us  to  send  a  representative. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be.  Sir, 

Your  obedient  Servant, 

Wefe  O.  Honey 
Secretary  for  Agriculture 

SALISBtJRY 
April  26,  1907 


328        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


ROYAL  SOCIETY 

Dear  Sir:  I  am  desired  by  the  president  and  Council  of  the 
Royal  Society  to  express  their  best  thanks  for  the  invitation 
with  which  they  have  been  honoured  by  the  president  and  Board 
of  Control  of  Michigan  Agricultural  College  to  be  represented 
at  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  institution.  They  regret  to  be 
unable  to  accept  the  invitation,  but  they  send  their  good  wishes 
for  the  complete  success  of  the  celebration  and  for  the  continued 
prosperity  of  the  College. 

I  beg  leave  to  remain,  dear  Sir,  yours  faithfully, 

Francis  Darwin,  Foreign  Secretary 

Burlington  House,  London   W. 
March  i8,  1907 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  329 


TRANSVAAL  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE 

The  President  and  Board  0}  Control,  Michigan  Agricultural 
College: 

Gentlemen:  On  behalf  of  this  department,  I  beg  to  offer 
to  you  our  most  sincere  thanks  for  the  honour  you  have  done  the 
department  in  inviting  it  to  unite  with  you  in  the  celebration  of 
the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  College. 

Unfortunately,  it  is  a  far  cry  from  the  Transvaal  to  Michigan, 
and  owing  to  the  distance,  and  to  the  fact  that  the  leading  mem- 
bers of  our  staff  are  so  fully  engaged  at  the  present  time,  it  is 
impossible  for  us  to  accept  the  invitation,  much  as  we  should 
like  to  do  so. 

Will  you  therefore  kindly  accept  our  apologies  for  non- 
attendance  ? 

Your  College  is  famed  throughout  the  world,  both  for  its 
pioneer  work  in  the  cause  of  agricultural  education  and  re- 
search, and  for  the  perfection  to  which  it  has  attained.  It  has 
been  a  source  of  inspiration  and  guidance  to  similar  institutions 
in  many  countries,  and  the  influence  which  it  has  exercised  upon 
agriculture  is  widespread  and  profound. 

Most  heartily  do  we  congratulate  you  upon  the  occasion 
which  you  are  celebrating,  and  may  the  futxire  of  your  College 
be  as  useful  and  distinguished  as  its  past. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be,  Gentlemen, 

Your  obedient  Servant, 


Pretoria 
April  6,  1907 


M.   WURIT 

Director  0}  Agriculture 


33°        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


UNIVERSITEIT  VAN  AMSTERDAM 

To  the  President  and  Board  of  Control  of  Michigan  Agricultural 
College,  Lansing,  Michigan: 

Gentlemen:  On  behalf  of  the  Senate  of  the  University  of 
Amsterdam  I  beg  to  tender  you  our  best  thanks  for  your  kind 
invitation  extended  to  our  university  to  be  represented  at  the 
celebration  of  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  institution.  Much 
to  my  regret  I  have  to  inform  you  that  not  one  of  the  members  of 
the  Senate  is  in  a  position  to  avail  himself  of  your  invitation,  and 
to  convey  to  you  our  fraternal  greetings  and  our  best  wishes  on 
this  auspicious  occasion.  We  sincerely  hope  that  the  past  half- 
century  may  prove  to  be  the  earnest  of  a  glorious  future,  and 
that  Michigan  Agricultural  College  may  continue  to  be  a  power- 
ful factor  in  the  development  of  agriculture  in  the  United  States 
of  America. 

With  the  cordial  greetings  of  the  University  of  Amsterdam 
to  your  College,  I  have  the  honour  to  be,  yours  faithfully, 

J.  ROTGANS 

Rector  Magnijicus  of  the  University  of  Amsterdam 

Amsterdam 
April  27,  1907 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  331 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ARIZONA 

The  president  and  Board  of  Regents  of  the  University  of 

Arizona  regret  that  distance  and  the  particular  date  will  prevent 

their  representation  at  the  celebration  of  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary 

of  Michigan  Agricultiural  College.    They  beg  leave  to  offer  their 

most  cordial  f  ehcitations  upon  the  completion  of  this  period  of 

honorable  and  effective  service. 

Tucson,  Arizona 
March  9,  1907 


332        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


UNIVERSITY  OF  BOMBAY 

To  the  President  and  Board  of  Control,  Michigan  Agricultural 
College: 

Gentlemen  :  I  am  directed  by  the  Syndicate  to  convey  their 
thanks  to  you  for  your  invitation  to  this  university  to  be  repre- 
sented at  the  celebration  of  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  Michigan 
Agricultural  College  and  to  express  regret  that  it  is  impossible 
to  send  a  representative. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be,  Gentlemen, 

Your  most  obedient  Servant, 


Bombay 
April  25,  1907 


Fardunji  M.  Dastur 

University  Registrar 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  333 


UNIVERSITE  LIBRE  DE  BRUXELLES 

A  Monsieur  le  President  et  d  Messieurs  les  Membres  de  la  com- 
mission administrative  du  Michigan  Agricultural  College: 

Messieurs:  J'ai  I'honneur  de  vous  accuser  reception  de 
I'invitation  que  vous  avez  bien  voulu  nous  adresser  de  nous 
faire  representer  aux  f^tes  de  la  celebration  du  cinquantifeme 
anniversaire  de  votre  college.  Nous  vous  en  sommes  tres 
reconnaissants,  mais  la  date  de  cette  calibration  tombant  dans 
la  p^riode  de  nos  cours,  il  est  impossible  que  I'un  de  nos  pro- 
fesseurs  s'absente  k  cette  ^poque.  Nous  devons  nous  bomer 
k  former  des  vceux  pour  la  dur^e  et  la  prosp^rit^  de  votre  institu- 
tion. 

Veuillez  agreer,  Messieurs,  I'assurance  de  nos  sentiments  les 

plus  distingu^s. 

Le  secretaire  de  I'universite 

A.  Lavachery' 

Bruxelles 
le  2  Mars  1907 

I  UNIVERSITY   OF   BRUSSELS 

To  the  President  and  tfie  Members  of  the  Administration  Committee  oj  tJte  Mich- 
igan Agricultural  College: 

Gentlemen  :  I  have  the  honor  of  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  the  invita- 
tion to  have  our  institution  represented  at  the  Semi-Centennial  Celebration  of 
your  College.  We  appreciate  this  honor  very  highly,  but  since  the  date  of  this 
celebration  comes  while  our  school  is  still  in  session  it  is  impossible  for  any 
of  our  professors  to  leave  at  that  time.  We  must  content  ourselves  with  extend- 
ing our  best  wishes  for  the  continued  prosperity  of  your  institution. 
Be  assured  of  our  most  friendly  regard  and  esteem, 

The  Secretary  of  the  University 
A.  Lavachery 
Brussels 
March  2,  1907 


334        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


UNIVERSITY  OF   CAMBRIDGE 

Sir:  I  have  the  honor  and  pleasure  to  inform  you  that,  in 
response  to  your  request  that  the  University  of  Cambridge  may 
be  represented  on  the  occasion  of  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the 
Michigan  Agricultural  College,  Dr.  Henry  Taylor  Bovey, 
LL.D.,  D.C.L.,  M.Inst.C.E.,  F.R.S.,  Honorary  FeUow  of 
Queen's  College,  Cambridge,  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Science 
of  the  McGill  University,  has  been  appointed  by  the  University 
of  Cambridge  as  its  representative  and  has  consented  to  act. 

I  have  requested  Dr.  Bovey  to  convey  the  hearty  congratula- 
tions of  the  university  to  yourself  and  the  Board  of  Control  on 
the  very  interesting  occasion  of  the  Jubilee  of  the  institution 
and  to  express  to  you  the  earnest  wish  of  the  university  that  your 
College  may  continue  in  all  prosperity  to  perform  the  excellent 
work  for  which  it  is  justly  famed. 

I  am,  Sir,  yours  faithfully, 

E.  S.  Roberts,  V ice-Chancellor 

GONVILLE   AND   CaIUS   COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE,   ENGLAND 

April  15,  1907 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  335 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO 

Dear  Sir:  I  beg  to  extend  on  behalf  of  the  University  of 
Chicago  cordial  congratulations  to  the  Michigan  Agricultural 
College  on  the  occasion  of  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  institu- 
tion. The  work  of  our  agricultural  colleges  is  among  the  most 
important  undertaken  by  the  educational  agencies  of  this  coun- 
try. While  our  own  interests  lie  along  other  lines,  at  the  same 
time  we  are  deeply  concerned  in  all  that  affects  the  educational 
welfare  of  our  people. 

Trusting  that  the  College  will  continue  to  prosper  and  to 
expand  its  beneficent  work,  I  am, 

Very  truly  yours, 

Harry  Pratt  Judson 

May  25,  1907 


336        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CHRISTIANIA 

[cablegram] 
Agricultural  College,  Lansing,  Mich.: 
Greeting  and  Congratulations. 

University  of  Christiania 

Kristiania 
May  28,  1907 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  337 


UNIVERSITY  OF   CINCINNATI 

The  president  and  the  faculties  of  the  University  of  Cincinnati 
regret  very  much  to  find  that  it  will  not  be  possible  to  send  a 
representative  to  the  Semi-Centennial  Celebration  of  the  Michi- 
gan Agricultural  College,  as  the  commencement  of  the  university 
occurs  at  the  same  time.  They  wish  again  to  send  sincere 
felicitations  and  to  express  hearty  good  wishes  for  the  future 
welfare  of  the  College. 

May  24,  1907 


338        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


UNIVERSITY   OF  COLORADO 

Dear  Sir:  The  University  of  Colorado  acknowledges  the 
formal  invitation  to  be  present  at  the  Semi- Centennial  Cele- 
bration of  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College.  We  regret  that 
the  distance  and  the  demands  of  approaching  Commencement 
week  will  prevent  our  sending  a  delegate  on  that  occasion.  The 
regents  and  the  faculties  extend  cordial  greeting  and  congratula- 
tions on  the  growth  and  importance  of  the  Michigan  Agricultural 
College. 

Very  truly  yours, 

James  H.  Baker,  President 
Boulder,  Colo. 
May  15,  1907 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  339 


UNIVERSITY  OF  GLASGOW 

To  the  President  of  Michigan  Agricultural  College: 

Sir:  The  University  of  Glasgow  was  gratified  at  receiving  an 
invitation  to  send  a  representative  to  the  celebration  in  the  end 
of  the  present  month  of  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  Michigan 
Agricultural  College.  The  date  falls  in  the  middle  of  our  sum- 
mer session,  and  hence  our  professor  of  botany,  who  is  of  course 
the  most  interested  among  us  in  your  work,  was  unable  to  cross 
the  Atlantic.  The  university  has  the  power  of  granting  a 
degree  in  agriculture  through  the  co-operation  of  the  West  of 
Scotland  Agriculture  College,  and  had  the  professor  of  agri- 
culture in  that  institution  been  in  a  position  to  undertake  the 
duty  the  university  would  gladly  have  sent  him  as  a  representa- 
tive. The  Senate  must  therefore  content  themselves  with  send- 
ing a  cordial  message  of  congratulation  on  the  attainment  of 
your  Jubilee  and  an  expression  of  their  warmest  wishes  for  your 
continued  prosperity. 

I  am.  Sir,  your  obedient  Servant, 

William  Stewart 

Clerk  0}  Senate 
Glasgow 

May  8,  1907 


340        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


THE  UNIVERSITY   OF   KANSAS 

President  J.  L.  Snyder,  Michigan  Agricultural  College: 

My  dear  President  Snyder:  I  regret  to  say  that  it  is  not 
likely  that  the  University  of  Kansas  will  be  able  to  send  a  repre- 
sentative to  the  celebration  of  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  Michi- 
gan Agricultural  College.  I  wish,  therefore,  on  behalf  of  the 
regents  and  faculties  of  this  university  to  express  to  you  our 
hearty  congratulations  upon  the  event  and  our  hope  for  a  long 
continuance  of  your  distinguished  work. 

Very  truly  yours, 

Frank  Strong 

Chancellor  and  President  0}  the  Board  0}  Regents 

Lawrence,  Kan. 
March  26,  1907 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  341 

UNIVERSITAT  LEIPZIG 

An  the  Committee  on  Semi-Centennial  Celebration  0}  the  Michi- 
gan Agricultural  College: 

Fiir  die  an  die  Universitat  Leipzig  ergangene  freundliche 
Einladung  zur  Teilnahme  an  der  50-jahrigen  Stiftungsfeier  des 
Michigan  Agricultural  College  spreche  ich  dem  geehrten  Com- 
mittee on  Semi-Centennial  Celebration  verbindlichsten  Dank 
aus. 

Bei  der  Kiirze  des  Sommer-Semesters  wird  es  aber  fiir  keinen 
der  Professoren  hier  zu  ermoglichen  sein,  als  Delegierter  zu  der 
Festfeier  personlich  zu  erscheinen.  Es  verfehlt  jedoch  der 
imterzeichnete  Rector  nicht,  Namens  der  Universitat  Leipzig 
dem  geehrten  Michigan  Agricultural  College  zur  Jubelfeier  die 
herzhchsten  Gliickwiinsche  hierdurch  auszusprechen.  Moge 
es  bei  dem  grossen  Rufe,  dessen  es  sich  nicht  nur  in  praktischen, 
sondern  auch  in  landwirtschaftlich  wissenschaftlichen  Kreisen 
zu  erfreuen  hat,  in  aller  Zukunft  bliihen  und  gedeihen. 

Der  Rector  der  Universitat  Leipzig 
Dr.  Curschmann* 

Leipzig 
am  12.  Marz  1907 

I  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF   LEIPZIG 
To  the  Committee  on  Semi-Centennial  Celebration  of  the  Michigan  Agricultural 
College: 

For  the  invitation  to  the  University  of  Leipzig  to  participate  in  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  Michigan  Agricultiiral  College  I  wish  to 
express  to  the  honored  Committee  on  Semi-Centennial  Celebration  our  most 
hearty  thanks. 

On  account  of  the  short  duration  of  the  summer  semester  it  will  be  impos- 
sible for  any  of  the  professors  to  be  present  in  person  as  delegates  on  this  occasion. 
However,  the  undersigned  Rector  takes  pleasure  in  extending  herewith  in  the 
name  of  the  University  of  Leipzig  the  most  cordial  congrattilations  to  the  honored 
Michigan  Agricultural  College  on  its  Jubilee.  May  it  continue  to  thrive  and 
flourish,  forever  maintaining  the  glorious  reputation  it  has  enjoyed  and  is 
justiy  enjoying  among  practical,  as  well  as  scientific  agriculturists. 

The  Rector  of  the  University  of  Leipzig 
Dr.  Curschmann 
Leipzig,  March  12,  1907 


342        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


UNIVERSITY  OF  MELBOURNE 

The  President,  Michigan  Agricultural  College: 

Sir  :  I  have  the  honour  on  behalf  of  the  University  of  Mel- 
bourne to  acknowledge  with  thanks  the  receipt  of  the  invitation 
to  be  represented  at  the  celebration  of  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary 
of  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College. 

I  am  directed  by  the  Council  to  convey  to  you  its  congratula- 
tions on  the  occasion  of  the  Jubilee  of  the  College  and  to  express 
its  regret  that  it  is  unable  to  appoint  a  representative  to  be 
present  at  the  celebration, 

I  have  the  honour  to  be,  Sir, 

Your  obedient  Servant, 

W.  E.  Cornwall,  Registrar 

May  3,  1907 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  343 


UNIVERSITY  OF   NORTH  DAKOTA 

President  of  the  Board  0}  Cordrol,  Michigan  Agricultural  College: 
Dear  Sir:  I  write  on  behalf  of  the  State  University  of  North 
Dakota  to  express  our  regret  that  it  will  be  impracticable  for  the 
university  to  be  represented  by  a  delegate  on  the  occasion  of  the 
Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the  Michigan  State 
Agricultural  College.  Previous  engagements  make  it  impos- 
sible for  me  to  be  present  on  that  occasion.  I  am  instructed  by 
the  faculty,  however,  to  send  most  cordial  greetings  and  con- 
gratulations upon  the  very  honorable  record  of  the  Michigan 
State  Agricultural  College  during  the  past  half-century.  Its 
contribution  to  the  wealth  and  well-being  of  the  state  of  Michigan 
as  well  as  to  the  great  cause  of  agricultural  improvement  through- 
out the  country  is  incalculable.  It  is  our  hope  that  the  brilliant 
achievements  of  the  last  half-century  are  but  the  harbinger  of  a 
still  more  brilliant  career  to  be  achieved  in  the  next  half -century. 
With  renewed  greetings  and  congratulations,  I  have  the 
honor  to  remain, 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

Webster  Merrifield,  President 

UNrVERSITY,   N.    D. 

April  6,  1907 


344        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

UNIVERSITE  DE  PARIS 

Monsieur  le  President: 

J'ai  communique  au  Conseil  de  l'Universit6  de  Paris  I'invita- 
tion  que  vous  avez  bien  voulu  adresser  a  I'Universite  de  se  faire 
repr^senter  aux  fetes  du  5oeme  anniversaire  de  la  fondation  du 
College  d'Agriculture  de  Michigan,  qui  auront  lieu  les  28,  29 
et  30  mai  prochain. 

J'ai  le  regret  de  vous  informer  qu'a  cette  ^poque  de  Tannic 
oil  s'achevent  les  cours,  et  ou  s'ouvre  la  pdriode  des  examens,  il 
ne  sera  pas  possible  k  I'Universite  de  repondre  a  votre  voeu. 

Mais  en  son  nom  comme  au  mien,  j'ai  I'honneur  de  vous 
adresser,  avec  nos  remerciements  pour  votre  invitation,  I'expres- 
sion  de  nos  vceux  les  plus  empresses  pour  la  prosperite  du  Col- 
lege d'Agriculture  de  Michigan. 

Veuillez  agreer.  Monsieur  le  President,  I'assurance  de  ma 
haute  consideration. 

Le  Vice-Recteur 
President  du  Conseil  de  VUniversite  de  Paris^ 
Paris 
le  17  avril  1907 

I  THE  UNIVERSITY   OF   PARIS 

Mr.  President: 

I  have  communicated  to  the  Council  of  the  University  of  Paris  your  kind 
invitation  addressed  to  the  university  to  participate  in  the  celebration  of  the 
Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  Michigan  College  of  Agriculture  taking  place  on  the 
28th,  29th,  and  30th  days  of  next  May. 

I  regret  to  inform  you  that  at  this  time  of  the  year,  when  the  regular  work 
of  the  university  has  just  been  completed  and  the  examinations  are  about  to 
commence,  it  would  be  impossible  for  us  to  respond  to  your  desire. 

But  in  the  name  of  the  university,  as  well  as  my  ovm,  I  have  the  honor  to 
render  you  our  thanks  for  your  invitation  and  to  express  our  most  earnest  wishes 
for  the  welfare  of  the  Michigan  College  of  Agriculture. 

Mr.  President,  accept  the  assurance  of  my  highest  regards. 


Paris,  April  17,  1907 


Vice-Rector 
President  0}  the  council  of  the  University  of  Paris 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  345 


UNIVERSITY  OF  TOKIO 

[cablegram] 

Agricultural  College,  Lansing,  Mich.: 

Cordial  Congratulations. 

University  Tokio 

TOKIO 
May  28,  1907 


346        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


UNIVERSITY  OF  UTRECHT 

To  the  President  and  Board  of  Control  of  Michigan  Agricultural 
College: 
The  Senate  of  the  University  of  Utrecht  have  the  honor  to 
acknowledge  with  thanks  the  invitation  of  the  president  and 
Board  of  Control  of  Michigan  Agricultural  CoUege,  to  be  repre- 
sented at  the  celebration  of  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the 
institution  on  May  28  to  31,  1907.  They  regret  not  having  an 
opportunity  to  appoint  delegates  who  might  orally  give  expres- 
sion to  their  admiration  for  your  illustrious  College,  and  request 
that  the  cordial  congratulations  of  the  University  of  Utrecht  be 
graciously  accepted  from  this  address. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Senate 
W.  H.  Julius 

Utrecht 
March  15,  1907 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  347 


UNIVERSITAT  WIEN 

An  das  Michigan  Agricultural  College: 

Das  Michigan  Agricultural  College  hat  der  k.  k.  Universitat 
Wien  eine  Einladung  zu  der  in  der  Zeit  vom  28.  bis  31.  Mai  1907 
stattfindenden  50-Jahrfeier  iibermittelt. 

Ich  beehre  mich,  namens  der  Wiener  Universitat  hierf  iir  den 
warmsten  Dank  auszusprechen  und  meinem  Bedauern  dariiber 
Ausdruck  zu  geben,  dass  die  Entsendung  eines  Vertreters  gerade 
um  diese  Zeit  nicht  moglich  ist,  weil  der  Unterrichtsbetrieb  an 
der  Universitat  und  die  dort  stattfindenden  Priifungen  eine 
langere  Entf  ernung  von  Mitgliedern  des  Lehrkorpers  untunlich 
erscheinen  lassen. 

Es  sei  mir  gestattet,  dem  loblichen  Michigan  Agricultural 
College  auf  diesem  Wege  die  Gliickwunsche  der  k.  k.  Universitat 
Wien  zu  iibermitteln. 

Der  Rektor  der  k.  k.  Universitat^ 

Wien 
am  24.  April  1907 

^UNIVERSITY  OF   VIENNA 

To  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College: 

The  Michigan  Agricultural  College  extended  its  invitation  to  the  K.  K. 
University  of  Vienna  to  participate  in  the  celebration  of  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary 
of  the  institution,  taking  place  between  the  28th  and  31st  days  of  May,  1907. 

I  have  the  honor  to  express  in  the  name  of  the  University  of  Vienna  our 
heartiest  thanks  for  your  kindness  and,  at  the  same  time,  regret  to  say  that  we 
find  it  impossible  for  us  to  send  a  representative  at  that  time,  for  the  regular 
work  of  the  University  as  well  as  the  examinations  taking  place  there  at  the  time 
mentioned,  do  not  permit  the  prolonged  absence  of  any  member  of  the  faculty. 

Permit  me  to  extend  to  the  worthy  Michigan  Agricultural  College  the 

congratulations  of  the  K.  K.  University  of  Vienna. 

Rector  of  the  K.  K.  University 
Vienna,  April  24,  1907 


348        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


WESTERN   UNIVERSITY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

The  Chancellor  and  Faculty  of  the  Western  University  of 
Pennsylvania  gratefully  acknowledge  receipt  of  the  invitation  of 
the  President  and  the  Board  of  Control  of  Michigan  Agricul- 
tural College  to  be  represented  at  the  celebration  of  the  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  the  institution,  May  28-31,  1907,  and  very  greatly 
regret  that  the  near  approach  of  Commencement  will  prevent 
representation  on  that  occasion.  They  wish,  however,  to  con- 
gratulate the  Michigan  Agricultural  College  upon  attaining  to 
the  mature  age  of  fifty  years,  and  to  wish  the  College  a  continua- 
tion of  its  great  prosperity  and  splendid  usefulness  during  the 
next  half-century.  This  expression  is  the  more  earnest  because 
Pittsburgh  has  given  to  the  College  its  present  able  executive 
and  more  recently  the  head  of  its  English  Department. 

Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
March  12,  1907 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  349 

In  addition  to  the  greetings  printed  in  full,  felicitations  were 
received  from  the  following  institutions : 

Adelphi  College,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Allegheny  College,  Meadville,  Pa. 

Antioch  College,  Yellow  Springs,  O. 

Bates  College,  Lewiston,  Maine 

Beaver  College  and  Musical  Institute,  Beaver,  Pa. 

Beloit  College,  Beloit,  Wis. 

Boston  University,  Boston,  Mass. 

Bryn  Mawr  College,  Bryn  Mawr,  Pa. 

Carleton  College,  Northfield,  Minn. 

Carthage  College,  Carthage,  111. 

Central  Wesleyan  College,  Warrenton,  Mo. 

Cheshire  Swine  Breeder's  Association,  Freeville,  N.  Y. 

Colgate  University,  Hamilton,  N.  Y. 

Denison  University,  Granville,  Ohio 

Department  of  Agriculture,  Victoria,  Melbourne 

Detroit  College,  Detroit,  Mich. 

Eureka  College,  Eureka,  111. 

Georgia  School  of  Technology,  Atlanta,  Ga. 

Hiram  College,  Hiram,  Ohio 

Lake  Forest  College,  Lake  Forest,  111. 

Macalester  College,  St.  Paul,  Minn. 

Marietta  College,  Marietta,  Ohio 

Notre  Dame  University,  Notre  Dame,  Ind. 

Occidental  College,  Los  Angeles,  California 

Omo  University,  Athens,  Ohio 

Pennsylvania  College  for  Women,  Pittsbiirgh,  Pa. 

Radcliffe  College,  Cambridge,  Mass. 

Roanoke  College,  Salem,  Va. 

Rose  Polytechnic  Institute,  Terre  Haute,  Ind. 

Rothamsted  Experimental  Station,  Harpenden,  England 

Smith  College,  Northampton,  Mass. 

Syracuse  University,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

Thomas  S.  Clarkson  Memorial  School  of  Technology,  Potsdam, 

N.  Y. 
Trinity  College,  Dublin,  Ireland 
University  of  Illinois,  Urbana,  111. 
University  of  Montana,  Missoula,  Montana 


3SO        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

University  of  New  Mexico,  Albuquerque,  N,  M. 
University  op  North  Carolina,  Chapel  Hill,  N.  C. 
University  of  Oregon,  Eugene,  Oregon 
University  of  Sydney,  Australia 
Vassar  College,  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y. 
Wellesley  College,  Wellesley,  Mass. 
Wesleyan  University,  Middletown,  Conn, 
Wheaton  College,  Wheaton,  111. 
The  Woman's  College,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Worcester  Polytechnic  Institute,  Worcester,  Mass. 
Yale  University,  New  Haven,  Conn. 


CONGRATULATORY  MESSAGES 

RECEIVED  BY  THE  COMMITTEE 

FROM  INDIVIDUALS 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  353 


FROM  SARAH  M.  ABBOT 

Widow  of  Theophilus  C.  Abbot,  Professor  in  this  College,  1858-92,  and 
President,  1862-84 

President  Snyder: 

Dear  Sir:  It  is  with  exceeding  regret  that  I  must  decline  the 
invitation  to  be  present  at  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  Michigan 
Agricultural  College.  Nothing  could  give  nie  greater  pleasure 
than  to  meet  once  more  the  old  students  and  other  friends  who 
will  be  there,  but  the  infirmities  of  old  age  do  not  permit  me  to 
take  the  long  journey. 

With  best  wishes  for  the  continued  prosperity  of  the  College 
in  which  I  shall  ever  be  interested, 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

Sarah  M.  Abbot 

San  Gabriel 
May  17,  1907 


354        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

FROM  ROBERT  GIBBONS 

For  many  years  Editor  of  the  Michigan  Farmer 

President  J.  L.  Snyder,  Michigan  Agricultural  College,  Mich.: 

Dear  Mr.  President:  Pardon  my  neglect  to  acknowledge 
the  receipt  of  your  very  artistic  invitation  to  attend  the  Semi- 
centennial of  Michigan  Agricultural  College.  I  can  assure 
you  the  compliment  is  highly  appreciated,  and  I  only  waited  to 
see  whether  or  not  I  could  possibly  be  present  before  replying. 
It  is  with  great  regret  I  find  I  will  not  be  able  to  attend.  Thurs- 
day is  Memorial  Day,  and  I  could  not  put  off  meeting  with  the 
old  comrades  yet  able  to  answer  roll-call,  but  maybe  for  the  last 
time.  They  are  dropping  fast,  now,  and  the  few  left  in  Detroit 
Post  384.  regard  the  loss  of  a  familiar  face  as  a  calamity. 

But  I  am  getting  too  reminiscent — a  sign  probably  that  Dr. 
Osier  should  be  on  my  track  and  cut  me  off  as  a  cumberer  of  the 
earth. 

But,  Mr.  President,  let  me  say  that  the  Michigan  Agricultural 
College  is  the  Plymouth  Rock  of  American  agriculture,  and  as 
inspiring  in  its  history  as  that  famous  rock  has  been  in  the  history 
of  free  government.  Its  pioneers  had  as  arduous  a  task  before 
them  as  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  and  did  their  duty  as  they  saw  it, 
as  faithfully  as  the  Puritans.  Long  after  we  have  passed  into 
oblivion  the  agricultural  colleges  of  the  United  States  will  be 
the  beacon  lights  along  the  stream  of  progress  which  will  warn 
voyagers  from  the  rocks  of  ignorance  and  prejudice,  and  guide 
them  into  the  harbors  of  success  and  advancement.  Every 
patriot  who  prizes  the  well-being  of  his  country  should  contribute 
by  voice  and  work  for  their  fuller  development  to  meet  the 
enlarged  and  onerous  duties  they  will  be  compelled  to  assume. 

This  is  not  written  in  eulogy,  but  as  a  statement  of  facts  that 
will  force  themselves  upon  the  minds  of  all  who  have  studied 
their  history.  I  have  had  opportunities  during  the  past  forty 
years  to  know  the  men  who  have  managed  M.  A.  C.'s  affairs 
and  taught  its  students,  and  have  seen  the  results  of  their  teach- 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  355 

ings  exemplified  on  the  farms  of  the  state.  It  is  an  inspiring 
record,  and  one  that  will  be  more  greatly  honored  a  century 
hence  than  the  present  generation  can  realize. 

Let  us  all  hope,  Mr.  President,  that  future  generations  will 
be  as  faithfully  served  by  the  faculty  and  managers  of  agricul- 
tural colleges  all  over  the  land  as  the  present  ones,  and  there  will 
be  no  fear  that  the  agriculturalist  will  not  develop  with  his 
opportunities,  and  become  more  of  a  factor  in  the  industrial 
progress  of  the  Union  than  he  is  now. 

Sincerely  believing  that  I  have  not  overstated,  or  even  ap- 
proached the  magnitude  of  the  services  rendered  by  the  farmers' 
colleges  in  the  Union,  I  need  not  repeat  that  I  regard  them  as 
worthy  of  all  praise  as  the  best  examples  of  the  true  dignity  of 
labor  that  is  honestly  performed  and  as  exemplifying  its  great 
value  in  building  up  the  character  of  American  Citizens. 

All  honor,  therefore,  to  the  M.  A.  C,  the  Plymouth  Rock  of 
American  agriculture,  whose  teachings  developed  pioneers  able 
to  make  plain  the  great  truths  of  Nature  and  their  relation  to  the 
highest  development  of  modern  agriculture.  To  yourself,  Mr. 
President,  and  your  able  assistants  and  advisers,  I  feel  it  only 
justice  that  I,  who  know  what  has  been  accomplished,  should 
bear  testimony  to  their  unselfish  and  patriotic  services  in  advanc- 
ing and  developing  the  agriculture  of  the  state. 

This  is  not  for  the  public,  but  to  make  clear  to  yourself  and 

every  member  of  the  faculty  how  much  I  appreciate  their 

services. ' 

Sincerely  yours, 

RoBT.  Gibbons 

Detroit,  Mich. 
May  28,  1907 

I  Permission  was  later  given  for  the  publication  of  this  letter. — Editor. 


35^        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


FROM  DOCTOR  EDWARD  EVERETT  HALE 

My  dear  Sir:  I  am  one  of  the  few  people  who  remember 
with  interest  the  establishment  of  the  Agricultural  College. 
I  have  followed  its  honorable  history  with  pride  and  pleasure. 
I  am  honored  and  gratified  by  your  invitation.  But  I  am  sorry  to 
say  that  I  have  already  made  appointments  for  that  week  which 
compel  me  to  decline  attempting  the  service  which  you  propose. 

I  told  Senator  Burrows  that  I  hoped  I  could  arrange  to  come. 
But  this  proves  to  be  impossible. 

Truly  yours, 

Edw.  E.  Hale 

1748  N  Street,  N.  W.,  Washington,  D.  C. 
February  12,  1907 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  357 

A  GREETING  TO  THE  MICHIGAN  AGRICULTURAL 
COLLEGE 

FROM  DOCTOR  E.  W.  HILGARD 

Professor  of  Agriculture  in  the  University  of  California  and  Director  of  the 
Experiment  Station 

Greatly  regretting  my  inability  to  be  personally  present  at  the 
Semi-Centennial  Celebration  of  the  founding  of  the  oldest 
agricultural  college  in  the  United  States,  I  have  requested 
President  Wheeler  to  convey  to  the  Michigan  College  my  greet- 
ings and  congratulations  upon  this  auspicious  occasion,  which 
representatives  of  all  colleges  in  the  country  have  come  together 
to  celebrate.  I  hail  it  as  one  of  the  manifestations  of  growing 
interest  in  the  commemoration  of  anniversaries  of  victories 
unconnected  with  the  marshaling  of  armies  or  with  civil  strife. 

I  know  I  am  but  one  among  the  hundreds  engaged  in  pro- 
moting the  progress  of  the  fundamental  industry,  which  is  now 
emerging  from  the  eclipse  of  ages  into  recognition  as  a  profession 
worthy  of  the  highest  efforts  of  the  best  intellects.  I  am,  how- 
ever, led  to  ask  a  hearing  at  this  time,  as  one  of  the  relatively  few 
survivors  of  the  first  general  meeting  of  agricultural  college  men, 
held  in  Chicago  in  August,  1869,  when  the  Michigan  College 
was  already  twelve  years  old.  The  call  to  that  early  conven- 
tion was  for  the  discussion  of  the  proper  organization  of,  and 
subjects  and  methods  of  instruction  in,  the  new  institutions, 
regarding  which  there  was  a  wide  divergence  of  opinion.  If  I 
remember  rightly,  several  of  the  charter  members  of  the  Michi- 
gan College,  whose  names  are  on  the  program  of  this  meeting, 
were  also  present;  and  among  the  eastern  delegates  was  Daniel 
C.  Oilman,  then  hbrarian  of  Yale  College.  It  was  remarked  by 
those  attending  that  the  Michigan  College  alone  had  placed  on 
the  program  several  strictly  technical  papers,  the  first  of  these 
being  one  by  Professor  Manly  Miles,  on  "Pig  Feeding."  On 
my  arising  to  a  point  of  order,  claiming  that  the  object  of  the 
meeting  was  to  discuss  the  education  of  men  and  not  animals, 


358        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

the  objection  was  not  sustained  by  the  chairman,  in  view  of  the 
prominence  of  the  speaker,  and  the  seniority  of  the  Michigan 
College.  It  clearly  developed  during  the  later  discussions  that 
Michigan  College  considered  that  she  had  already  solved  the 
problem,  and  that  what  has  since  borne  the  designation  of  the 
"Michigan  Plan,"  viz.,  a  large  proportion  of  student  labor,  "to 
keep  up  the  habit  and  not  wean  the  pupils  from  the  farm,"  was 
the  only  admissible  method  of  agricultural  education.  The 
predominance  of  opinion  at  the  adjournment  of  the  convention 
seemed  to  favor  that  plan,  although  many  vigorous  protests 
against  the  use  of  so  much  of  the  students'  time  for  mere  mechan- 
ical exercise  were  voiced. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  dwell  elaborately,  before  this  audi- 
ence, upon  the  change  of  views  and  practice  which  experience 
has  brought  about  in  the  Michigan  College  itself,  and  upon  the 
gradual  evolution  of  the  "Wisconsin  Plan,"  according  to  which 
it  is  distinctly  recognized  that  the  colleges  organized  under  the 
Morrill  Act  cannot  educate  the  bulk  of  the  farmers'  sons  to  be 
farmers,  any  more  than  the  universities  can  directly  educate  the 
bulk  of  the  rest  of  the  population  to  their  several  pursuits.  It  is 
now  recognized  that  in  agricultural  education  as  in  every  other, 
there  must  be  a  gradation  of  schools  and  of  instruction,  from 
the  primary  through  graded  grammar  and  high  schools ;  so  that 
it  shall  be  the  special  function  of  the  colleges  to  train,  in  the 
main,  agricultural  experts  and  teachers,  the  lack  of  whom  at  this 
time  offers  the  most  serious  obstacle  to  the  effective  organiza- 
tion of  instruction  in  agriculture  in  the  lower  schools,  where  alone 
the  bulk  of  the  population  can  be  trained  in  anything.  It  is  the 
attempt,  made  at  first,  to  perform  the  physically  impossible  task 
of  satisfactorily  combining  elementary  and  collegiate  training 
within  the  colleges  themselves,  that  has  long  made  of  them  a 
bone  of  contention.  For  they  were  popularly  charged  with 
"educating  the  boys  away  from  the  farm,"  while  in  reaHty  they 
were  merely  fulfilling  their  prescribed  duty  of  giving  instruction 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  359 

in   "the  sciences  bearing  on  agriculture  and  the    mechanic 
arts." 

I  have  held  and  defended  these  views  for  nearly  forty  years, 
mostly  against  heavy  popular  odds,  but  I  do  not  fail  to  recognize 
and  fully  appreciate  the  inestimable  services  which  the  Michigan 
College  has  rendered  to  the  cause  of  agricultural  education. 
First  in  the  field,  and  with  few  available  precedents  to  act  upon, 
amid  intensely  practical  surroundings,  she  took  what  appeared 
to  be  the  most  obvious  and  direct  course  toward  the  desired  end, 
thus  giving  an  object-lesson  of  the  greatest  importance  to  all  the 
younger  states  and  colleges.  Therefore,  in  my  view,  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College  during  the  second 
half-century  upon  which  she  is  now  entering,  can  hardly  be 
more  widely  useful  than  have  been  those  of  the  first,  the  end  of 
which  brings  her  well-deserved  congratulations  from  all  parts 
of  the  United  States. 

EUG.   W.    HiLGARD 


360        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 


FROM  BYRON  D.   HALSTED 

Of   the   Class   of    1871.     Instructor,    1873-74.     Professor    of    Botany    and 
Horticulture,  Rutgers  College,  1889- 

[telegram] 

New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  May  29,  1907 
President  Jonathan  L.  Snyder: 

My  love  to  my  Mother,  whose  paeans  are  sung 
The  queen  of  all  others,  and  fifty  years  young. 

Byron  D.  Halsted 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  361 


FROM  PRICE  J.  WILSON 

Tiffin,  Ohio,  May  22,  1907 

President  of  Agricultural  College,  Lansing,  Mich.: 

My  dear  President  Snyder:  I  certainly  do  most  highly 
appreciate  your  kind  invitation  of  May  18  to  attend  the  Semi- 
centennial Exercises  of  your  great  institution.  My  uncle, 
P.  J.  Price,  Mr.  H.  A.  Woodworth's  father-in-law,  my  brother, 
and  myself  walked  out  from  Lansing  that  day,*  for  conveyances 
were  of  primitive  style  and  not  plenty  in  those  days.  We  all 
enjoyed  the  exercises.  The  address  of  the  president  of  the 
College  was  full  of  hope  and  you  are  enjoying  its  fruition  in 
these  days.  I  rejoice  in  the  success  that  has  come  to  Michigan 
Agricultural  College. 

I  hope  the  days  of  next  week  will  be  dehghtful  and  full  of 
rational  enjoyment.  I  hope  to  accept  your  invitation  to  be 
present  and  I  do  sincerely  thank  you  for  this  kmdness. 

Very  truly  yours 

Price  J.  Wilson 

I  May  13,  1857,  on  which  day  Michigan  Agricultural  College  was  formally 
dedicated. 


DELEGATES  AND  DISTINGUISHED  GUESTS 


LIST  OF  DELEGATES  AND  OTHER  DISTINGUISHED 

GUESTS 

*The  star  shows  that  a  duly  accredited  delegate  is  unable  to  be  present. 

FOREIGN   UNIVERSITIES  AND   COLLEGES 

University  of  Cambridge 

Dean  Henry  T.  Bovey,  F.R.S.,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.* 

University  of  Edinburg 

Professor  Robert  Wallace 
Friedrichs-Universitat 

Carl  Steinbruck,  Ph.D. 

University  of  Naples 
Pietro  Cardiello 

McGill  University 

Principal  James  W.  Robertson,  LL.D.,  C.M.G.* 

University  of  Toronto 

President  G.  C.  Creelman,  B.S.A.,  M.S. 

University  of  Upsala,  Sweden 

Carl  G.  Dahl 
Ontario  Agricultural  College 

President  G.  C.  Creelman,  B.S.A.,  M.S. 

AMERICAN  UNIVERSITIES  AND   COLLEGES 

Adrian  College 

Rev.  John  W.  Gray,  M.A.,  D.D. 

Albion  College 

President  Samuel  Dickie,  LL.D. 

Alma  College 

President  August  F.  Bruske,  D.D. 

Amherst  College 

Superintendent  S.  O.  Hartwell 
365 


366   MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

Baldwin  University 

President  George  Blake  Rogers,  A.M.,  B.D.,  Ph.D.,  D.D. 

Blackburn  College 

Victor  M.  Gore,  A.B. 

Bucknell  University 

President  John  Howard  Harris,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

Central-State  Normal  School 

Professor  WilHam  Bellis,  B.S.,  B.Pd. 

Clark  University 

Ellsworth  G.  Lancaster,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

Clemson  Agricultural  College 
Professor  J.  N.  Harper 
Professor  W.  M.  Riggs,  M.E. 

Colorado  State  Agricultural  College 
Professor  C.  P.  Gillette,  M.S. 

Colorado  School  of  Mines 

President  Victor  Clifton  Anderson,  A.B.,  Sc.D. 

Connecticut  Agricultural  College 

President  Rufus  Whittaker  Stimson,  A.M.,  B.D. 

Cornell  University 

Dean  Liberty  Hyde  Bailey,  M.S. 

Professor  R.  C.  Carpenter,  LL.D. 

Professor  Thomas  Forsyth  Hunt,  M.Sc,  D.Sc. 

Professor  L.  B.  Judson,  B.S. 

Professor  Raymond  Allen  Pearson,  M.S. 

Professor  John  Craig,  M.S. 

Professor  M.  V.  Slingerland,  Ph.D. 

Detroit  College 

President  R.  D.  Slevin,  S.J.* 

Earlham  College 

Fred  R.  Hathaway,  M.A. 

Georgia  State  College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts 
President  Henry  Clay  White,  Ph.D.,  D.C.L.,  LL.D. 

George  Washington  University 

Rev.  Richard  D.  Harlan,  D.D.,  LL.D. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  367 

Hamilton  College 

Rev.  Willard  K.  Spencer,  A.M.,  D.D. 

Hampton  Institute 

Director  E.  A.  Bishop,  B.S. 

Harvard  University 

Professor  Theodore  Lyman,  Ph.D. 

Hillsdale  College 

President  Joseph  William  Mauck,  A.M.,  LL.D. 

Hope  College 

President  Gerrit  J.  Kollen,  A.M.,  LL.D. 

Indiana  University 

E.  A.  Bryan,  A.M.,  LL.D. 
Iowa  State  College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts 

President  A.  B.  Storms,  A.M.,  D.D.,  LL.D.* 

Dean  C.  F.  Curtiss,  M.S.A. 

Professor  L.  H.  Pammel,  Ph.D. 

P.  G.  Holden,  B.Pd.,  M.S. 

Kalamazoo  College 

President  A.  Gaylord  Slocum,  A.M.,  LL.D. 

Kansas  State  Agricultural  College 

President  E.  R.  Nichols,  B.D.,  B.S.,  A.M. 
Regent  A.  M.  Story 

Kentucky  State  College 

President  James  Kennedy  Patterson,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

Lake  Erie  College 

Professor  Inza  McK.  Allison,  B.E. 
Louisiana  State  University  and  Agricultural  and   Mechanical 

College 

Dr.  Wm.  H.  Dalrymple,  M.R.C.V.S. 

Massachusetts  Agricultural  College 

President  Kenyon  L.  Butterfield,  B.S.,  A.M. 

Wm.  H.  Bovvker,  B.S. 

Professor  George  E.  Stone,  Ph.D. 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology 

Professor  Geo.  W.  Patterson,  B.S.,  M.A.,  Ph.D. 


368   MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

Miami  University 

Professor  Benjamin  Marshall  Davis,  M.S.,  Ph.D. 
Michigan  College  of  Mines 

President  F.  W.  McNair,  B.S. 

Michigan  State  Normal  College 
President  L.  H.  Jones,  A.  M. 

Mississippi  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College 
President  John  C.  Hardy,  A.M.,  LL.D. 

Missouri  School  of  Mines 

Professor  P.  J.  Wilkins,  B.S. 

Mount  Holyoke  College 

Mrs.  Leartus  Connor,  B.S. 

National  Farm  School 

Director  John  Hosea  Washburn,  A.M.,  Ph.D. 

New  Hampshire  College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts 
President  W.  D.  Gibbs,  M.S. 
Professor  E.  Dwight  Sanderson,  B.S.,  B.S.A. 

North  Dakota  Agricultural  College 
Professor  C.  B.  Waldron,  B.S. 

Northern  State  Normal  School 

Principal  James  H.  B.  Kaye,  A.M. 
Northwestern  University 

President  Abram  Winegardner  Harris,  Sc.D.,  LL.D. 
Oberlin  College 

Dean  Charles  E.  St.  John,  B.S.,  Ph.D. 
Ohio  State  University 

Dean  Homer  C.  Price,  M.S.A. 

Professor  William  R.  Lazenby,  M.Agr. 

Oklahoma  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College 

Director  William  L.  English,  B.S. 

Professor  W.  R.  Wright,  B.S. 
Olivet  College 

President  Ellsworth  G.  Lancaster,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 
Oregon  Agricultural  College 

President  W.  J.  Kerr,  D.Sc. 


SE^n-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  369 

Pennsylvania  State  College 

Vice-President  Judson  P.  Welch,  Ph.D. 
Professor  H.  E.  Vaai  Norman,  B.S. 

Pomona  College 

Professor  Albert  John  Cook,  D.Sc. 

Purdue  University 

President  Winthrop  Ellsworth  Stone,  A.M.,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 
Professor  W.  C.  Latta,  M.S. 
Professor  J.  Troop,  M.S. 
C.  G.  Woodbury,  B.S. 

Rhode  Island  College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts 
President  Howard  Edwards,  LL.D. 

Rutgers  College 

President  W.  H.  S.  Demarest,  A.M.,  D.D. 
Professor  Edward  B.  Voorhees,  A.M.,  D.Sc. 
Professor  J.  G.  Lipman,  A.M.,  Ph.D. 

South  Dakota  College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts 
President  Robert  L.  Slagle,  A.M.,  Ph.D. 
Director  James  W.  Wilson,  M.S.A. 

State  College  of  Washington 

President  Enoch  A.  Bryan,  A.M.,  LL.D. 

Swarthmore  College 

Ralph  Stone,  B.A.,  LL.B. 

Texas  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College 
Professor  Charles  H.  Alvord,  B.S. 

Tuskegee  Normal  and  Industrial  Institute 
Charles  W.  Greene 

Union  College 

Hon.  Charles  DeWitt  Lawton,  C.E.,  A.M. 

University  of  California 

President  Benjamin  Ide  Wheeler,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 
Hon.  A.  W.  Foster 

University  of  Georgia 

President  Henry  Clay  White,  Ph.D.,  D.C.L.,  LL.D. 


370   MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

University  of  Illinois 

President  Edmund  Janes  James,  A.M.,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.* 
Dean  Eugene  Davenport,  M.S.,  M.Agr.,  LL.D. 
Superintendent  Fred  H.  Rankin 
Professor  H.  W.  Mumford,  B.S. 

University  of  Maine 

President  George  Emory  Fellows,  Ph.D.,  L.H.D.,  LL.D . 
Dean  Wm.  D.  Hurd,  B.S. 
Professor  M.  J.  Dorsey,  B.S. 

University  of  Michigan 

President  James  Burrill  Angell,  A.M.,  LL.D. 
Professor  Jacob  Reighard,  Ph.B. 
Professor  Mortimer  Elwyn  Cooley,  M.E.,  LL.D. 
Professor  J.  B.  Pollock,  Sc.D. 

University  of  Minnesota 

Professor  Harry  Snyder,  B.S. 
Professor  Samuel  B.  Green,  B.S. 
Professor  C.  P.  Bull,  B.Agr. 

University  of  Missouri 

Professor  F.  B.  Mumford,  B.S. 
Dean  H.  J.  Waters,  B.S.A. 
P.  J.  Wilkins,  B.S. 

University  of  Nebraska 

Dean  Charles  E.  Bessey,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 
Director  Albert  Eugene  Davisson,  A.B. 
Professor  H.  R.  Smith,  B.S. 

University  of  Nevada 

Professor  Henry  Thurtell,  B.S. 

University  of  Oklahoma 

President  David  R.  Boyd,  A.M.,  Ph.D. 

University  of  Rochester 

Professor  Francis  W.  Kelsey,  A.M. 

University  of  Tennessee 

Professor  Brown  Ayres,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.* 
Director  H.  A.  Morgan 
Professor  Charles  E.  Ferris,  B.S. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  371 

University  of  Vermont 

President  Matthew  Henry  Buckham,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

University  of  Wisconsin 

President  Charles  R.  Van  Hise,  M.S.,  Ph.D.* 
Regent  W.  D.  Hoard 
Dean  WilHam  Arnon  Henry,  D.Sc. 
Professor  Harry  Luraan  Russell,  M.S.,  Ph.D. 

University  of  Wyoming 

President  Frederick  M.  Tisdel,  Ph.D. 

Virginia  Agricultural  College  and  Experiment  Station 
Dean  Andrew  M.  Soule,  B.S.A.* 

Washington  and  Lee  University 

President  George  H.  Denny,  M.A.,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

Western  College  for  Women 

Professor  Mary  F.  Leach,  Ph.D. 

Western  State  Normal  School 

Principal  Dwight  B.  Waldo,  Ph.B.,  A.M. 

Wheaton  College 

President  Charles  A.  Blanchard,  A.M.,  D.D. 

Williams  College 

Leartus  Connor,  M.A.,  M.D. 

Tufts  College 

President  Frederick  W.  Hamilton,  A.M.,  D.D.,  LL.D.* 

AGRICULTURAL  EXPERIMENT  STATIONS 

Arizona  Experiment  Station 

Director  Robert  Humphry  Forbes,  M.S. 

Colorado  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 

Director  L.  G.  Carpenter,  M.S. 
Connecticut  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 

Director  Edward  H.  Jenkins,  Ph.D. 
Cuban  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 

Director  J.  T.  Crawley 

Nelson  S.  Mayo,  B.S.,  M.D.C. 


372        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

Delaware  College  Experiment  Station 
Director  H.  Hayward,  M.S.Agr. 

Florida  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
Director  P.  H.  Rolfs,  M.S. 

Illinois  University  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
Director  Eugene  Davenport,  M.Agr.,  LL.D. 

Indiana  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
Director  Arthur  Goss,  M.S. 

Iowa  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 

Director  C.  F.  Curtiss,  B.S.A.,  M.S.A. 
Kansas  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 

Director  Charles  William  Burkett,  M.Sc. 

Kentucky  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
Director  M.  A.  Scovell,  Ph.D. 
Professor  H.  Garman 

Maine  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
Director  Chas.  D.  Woods,  Sc.D. 

Maryland  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
Professor  C.  P.  Close,  M.S. 

Massachusetts  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
Director  Wm.  P.  Brooks,  Ph.D. 
Dr.  George  Edward  Stone,  Ph.D. 

Mississippi  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
Director  W.  L.  Hutchinson,  M.S. 

Missouri  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
Director  H.  J.  Waters,  B.S. 

Nebraska  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
Director  E.  A.  Burnett,  B.S. 
Superintendent  W.  P.  Snyder,  M.S. 

New  Jersey  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
Jacob  G.  Lipman  Ph.D. 

New  York  Agricultural  Experiment  Station,  Cornell 
Director  Liberty  Hyde  Bailey,  M.S. 
Professor  R.  A.  Pearson,  M.S. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  373 

New  York  Agricultural  Experiment  Station,  Geneva 
Director  Whitman  H.  Jordan,  M.S.,  D.Sc,  LL.D. 
F.  C.  Stewart,  M.Sc. 
P.  J.  Parrott,  A.M. 
F.  H.  Hall,  B.S. 

North  Dakota  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
Henry  Luke  Bolley,  M.S. 

Ohio  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 

Director  Charles  Embree  Thorne,  M.A. 
Hon.  T.  C.  Laylin,  B.S. 
O.  D.  Selby,  B.S. 
John  Cartwright,  B.S. 
W.  J.  Green,  B.S. 

Oklahoma  Experiment  Station 
Director  W.  L.  English,  B.S. 

Pennsylvania  Experiment  Station 

Director  Henry  Prentiss  Armsby,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

Rhode  Island  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
Director  H.  J.  Wheeler,  M.A.,  Ph.D. 

South  Carolina  Experiment  Station 

Director  Joseph  Nelson  Harper,  M.Agr. 

South  Dakota  Experiment  Station 

Director  James  Wilbur  Wilson,  M.S. 

Storrs  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
Director  Louis  Adelbert  Clinton,  M.S. 

Texas  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
Acting  Director  J.  W.  Carson,  B.S. 

Utah  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
Director  Elmer  Darwin  Ball,  M.S. 
P.  A.  Yoder,  Ph.D. 

Vermont  Experiment  Station 

Director  Joseph  L.  Hills,  D.Sc. 

West  Virgina  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
Director  James  H.  Stewart,  A.M. 


374        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

Wisconsin  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
Director  William  Arnon  Henry,  D.Sc. 
Professor  Harry  Luman  Russell,  M.S.,  Ph.D. 

Wyoming  Experiment  Station 

Director  B.  C.  Buffum,  M.S. 

AMERICAN  SCIENTIFIC  SOCIETIES 

American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences 

President  James  Burrill  Angell,  A.M.,  LL.D. 

American  Antiquarian  Society 

President  James  Burrill  Angell,  A.M.,  LL.D. 

American  Chemical  Society 

Professor  Frank  S.  Kedzie,  M.S. 

American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 

Professor  Morgan  Brooks,  Ph.B.,  M.E. 
American  Philosophical  Society 

Director  William  Powell  Wilson,  D.Sc. 

American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers 
Professor  Paul  M.  Chamberlain,  M.S. 
Professor  M.  E.  Cooley,  LL.D. 
Mr.  Alex.  Dow 
Mr.  F.  E.  Kirby 

Geological  Society  of  America 

Frank  Lever ett,  B.Sc. 
Michigan  Academy  of  Science 

Professor  James  B.  Pollock,  M.S.,  Sc.D. 
Michigan  Engineering  Society 

President  Frank  Hodgman,  M.S. 
Michigan  Pioneer  and  Historical  Society 

President  Clarence  M.  Burton,  S.B.,  LL.B. 
National  Academy  of  Sciences 

Director  Thomas  Chrowder  Chamberlin,  Ph.D.,  Sc.D.,  LL.D. 
National  Educational  Association 

Henry  R.  Pattengill,  B.S. 
Society  of  Naval  Architects  and  Marine  Engineers 

Frank  E.  Kirby 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  375 

GENERAL  AND  TECHNICAL  SOCIETIES 

American  Cheviot  Sheep  Society- 
Secretary  F.  E.  Dawley 

American  Oxford  Down  Record  Association 
L.  N.  Olmsted 

American  Rambouillet  Sheep  Breeders'  Association 
R.  M.  Wood 

American  Shetland  Pony  Club 
William  R.  Goodwin,  M.S. 

American  Shropshire  Sheep  Registry  Association 
T.  A.  Bixby 

American  Tamworth  Swine  Record 
Secretary  E.  N.  Ball,  B.S. 

Ayrshire  Breeders'  Association 
Hon.  Henry  R.  Niles,  M.D. 

Holstein-Friesian  Association  of  America 
President  R.  C.  Reed 

Massachusetts  State  Forestry  Department 
State  Forester  F.  W.  Rane 

Michigan  Dairymen's  Association 
S.  J.  Wilson 

Michigan  Forestry  Commission 

President  Charles  W.  Garfield,  M.S. 

Michigan  Merino  Sheep  Breeders'  Association 
Secretary  E.  N.  Ball,  M.S. 

Michigan  State  Agricultural  Society 
Secretary  I.  H.  Butterfield 

Michigan  State  Grange 

Hon.  George  B.  Horton 

Michigan  State  Live  Stock  Sanitary  Commission 
H.  H.  Hinds 
C.  A.  Tyler 
John  McKay 


376        MICHIGAN  STATE  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE 

Polled  Durham  Breeders'  Association 
S.  E.  Whitman 

Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Agricultural  Science 

Henry  Prentiss  Armsby,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 
State  Association  of  Farmers'  Clubs  of  Michigan 

President  L.  Whitney  Watkins,  B.S. 

AGRICULTURAL  JOURNALISM 

American  Agriculturist 

M.  G.  Kains,  B.S.,  M.S. 
Chicago  Live  Stock  World 

A.  C.  Halliwell 
Farm  and  Fireside 

John  C.  Barnett 
Farm  and  Home 

Glenn  C.  Sevey,  B.S.* 
Farmers'  Advocate 

W.  D.  Albright 

The  Gleaner 

James  Slocum 

E.  L.  Keasey 

The  Kansas  Farmer 

I.  D.  Graham,  A.M. 

The  Michigan  Farmer 
I.  R.  Waterbury 

The  National  Stockman  and  Farmer 

F.  D.  Wells,  A.B. 
T.  D.  Harman 

The  Ohio  Farmer 

A.  J.  Anderson,  B.S. 

Orange  Judd  Farmer 

Clarence  A.  Shamel,  M.S. 

Park's  Floral  Magazine 
Geo.  W.  Park,  B.Sc. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  377 

Rural  New  Yorker 

Herbert  Winslow  Collingwood,  LL.D. 
Sugar  Beet  Culturist 

S.  O.  Burgdorf 

OTHER  DISTINGUISHED   GUESTS 
Representing  the  Federal  Government 
President  Theodore  Roosevelt 
Secretary  William  Loeb,  Jr. 
Assistant  Secretary  Maurice  C.  Latta 
Surgeon  General  P.  M.  Rixey 
Senator  Julius  C.  Barrows 
Senator  William  Alden  Smith 
Congressman  Edwin  Denby 
Congressman  Washington  Gardner 
Congressman  George  Alvin  Loud 
Congressman  Samuel  W.  Smith 
Congressman  Charles  Elroy  Townsend 
Commissioner  of  Education  Elmer  Ellsworth  Brown 

From  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
Secretary  James  Wilson,  LL.D. 
Assistant  Secretary  William  M.  Hays,  M.Agr. 
Forester  Gifford  Pinchot,  Sc.D. 

A.  C.  True,  Ph.D.,  Sc.D.,  Director  of  Office  of  Experiment  Stations 
E.  W.  Allen,  Ph.D.,  Assistant  Director  of  OflSce  of  Experiment 

Stations 
Charles  Fay  Wheeler,  M.S.,  D.Sc. 
William  Warner  Tracy,  M.S.,  D.Sc. 
John  Hamilton,  B.S.,  M.S. A.,  Director  of  Farmers'  Institutes 

Representing  the  State  of  Michigan 
Governor  Fred  Maltby  Warner  and  Staff 
The  State  Officials 
The  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court 
The  Members  of  the  Senate 
The  Members  of  the  House  of  Representatives 


Herr    N.    Kaumanns,    Landwirthschaftlicher    Sachverstandiger    fiir    die 

United  States  of  America. 
Lewis  Griffin  Gorton,  M.S.,   President  of  Michigan  State   Agriculturai 

College,  1893-95. 


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